TOPIC 1: WESTERN AND EASTERN CULTURE

Characteristics of western culture

1. Religion: Christianity is the most dominant religion in the western countries and it played an
important part in shaping the western civilisation. The west has also witnessed the emergence of a
group of people that does not believe in God or gods. They are known as atheists.
2. Marriage practices: arranged marriages are not accepted because they believe in the freedom of
choice of one’s marriage partner. Polygamy is not allowed as it is considered to be a violation of
the other partner’s rights. They encourage divorce and remarry to have more than one spouse.
People are also allowed to display their love through kissing and holding hands in public.
3. Nuclear family: this is the most common type of family in the western culture. It is made up of a
husband, wife and their children who are either born to them or adopted. It may also consist of just
one parent with his or her children (single parent family).
4. Music: western musicians or singers often mix their music with electric musical instruments like
keyboards, guitar e. t. c. some of the popular music genres include R&B, Jass, Pop, Country, hip
pop, rock n roll, disco, house, gospel and swing.
5. Food and preparation: westerners eat different types of food such as bread, pasta and rice
together with meat, fish and different types of vegetables with spices. They also like to bake and fry
their food. They like to eat in restaurants and other eating places not just in their homes all the
time.
6. Dressing: men wear shirts and trousers or suites while women wear skirts and blouses, suits and
sometimes trousers.
7. Language: people in western societies speak different languages. Some of major languages are
English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Latin and Dutch. English is the most widely spoken
language in western countries.
8. Hospitality and greetings: strangers are treated with caution and they are not given free food,
water and accommodation. The westerners have traditionally developed money economics where
people have to buy everything in appropriate places. Visiting a friend or a relative without giving
prior notice is considered to be an inconvenience. If you are invited to dinner or lunch in a
restaurant, it is customary that everyone pays for themselves. Greetings are not normally
accompanied by a hand shake or kiss regardless of sex.
9. Individualism: Western culture promotes individual values over collective values. Members are
responsible for themselves and their immediate families. The interest of the individuals takes
precedence over those of the social group or society. Individuals are more concern about pursuing
their personal interests rather than common or collective interest that would also benefit their
neighbours.

Characteristics of Eastern culture

 1. Family structure: extended families are common in eastern societies. Traditionally the father is
the head of the family and the provider of its needs, whereas women are to raise the children and
take care of the house. In some societies such as India, it is common to find more than more one
married couple living together in the same household. This is called joint family.
2. Marriage practices: arranged marriages are common in some societies of the eastern culture.
This involves parents making an arrangement and arranging to marry their children without their
consent. Polygamy is allowed in some eastern cultures like in the Middle East provided the man
has the means to provide for all the women.
3. Religion: the major religions in eastern culture are; Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism. Some eastern
societies have their own traditional religions based on the spirit of their ancestors such as Shinto in
Japan.
4. Hospitality and greetings: most eastern cultures emphasize on the importance of entertaining
visitors or guests. The host tries his or her best to make sure visitors are happy and comfortable.
Food is usually served in excess so that every guest is fully satisfied. In certain society such as
India, strangers are welcome in the home and treated nicely as they are believed to be
incarnations of gods or sent by gods to bring good luck. They are given free food and
accommodation. If one is invited to dinner or lunch in a restaurant, it is paid for by the host.
Greetings are accompanied by handshakes. However, greeting a female with a kiss is not allowed
in most Muslim societies particularly in the Middle East, visitors do not greet a woman with a hand
as words alone are considered enough.
5. Food and eating habits: the staple food is rice. In the Middle East people mostly eat wheat
products such as bread, pasta and also rice with meat and vegetables. Herbs and spices area
universally popular component of their dish in all the eastern societies. In countries like Japan,
China, Korea and Vietnam people use chopstick when eating their food as their eating habits.
Putting food in your mouth with fingers or hands is viewed as an ill-mannered and animal like act.
In countries like India, south-east Asia and Middle East, hands are used when eating. In some
societies, people eat from a communal dish placed in the centre.
6. Dressing: in certain societies, men wear shirts and trousers and women wear dresses, skirts,
blouses and trousers made with either their own traditional design or the western design. I the
predominantly Muslim societies, women dress more conservatively by putting on long garments
covering shoulders to feet. They also cover their hair and faces with a piece of cloth. Men wear
along sleeved one piece dress covering their whole body.
7. Collectivism: Eastern culture promotes collective values over individual values. The interests of
the social group or society take precedence over those of the individual. Members of a society
pursue collective interests that would also benefit their relatives and neighbours; and access is
measured by one’s contributions to the group as a whole.

The impacts of western cultures on Malawians and African culture

1. Introduction of Christianity: Christianity was introduced to Africa by various Christian
missionaries from Europe. Christian missionaries established schools, health facilities and
 churches in all the areas where they were operating. Those who attended mission schools became
employed as teachers and clerks in the colonial administration and later they become important
political leaders in the fight against colonialism. Christianity challenged traditional belief systems
and promoted the diffusion of new ideas and modes of life. Many Africans dropped their traditional
religious beliefs in favour of Christianity. Today it is a dominant religion in many countries including
Malawi.
2. Dissolution of traditional religion: the African Tradition Religion that is based on the belief in
ancestral spirit has been relegated into a minority religion in Christian dominated areas because it
was condemned by westerners as heathens and incompatible with modern civilisation. Those who
still practice their traditional religion are rare and mostly live in remote areas.
3. Review of certain beliefs and practices: western cultural influences have led to a review of some
of the African beliefs and practices that are considered inappropriate and incompatible with modern
civilisation. In Malawi, practices such as sexual cleansing, widow cleansing and wife inheritance
are now condemned as a violation of human rights and also spread sexually transmitted infections
and HIV/AIDS.
4. Changes in marriage practices: arranged marriages are no longer popular in African societies
because people now believe in the freedom of choice of marriage partner. Polygamy is also
becoming less popular because people consider it as a violation of women’s rights and not
compatible with modern ways of living. Ideas about human rights originated from western culture.
5. Copying of western ways of living: most people have adopted western ways of living. For
example, women are no longer restricted to traditional roles of raising children, doing household
chores and taking care of the husband. They are allowed to secure employment outside the home
and venture into businesses as is the case in the west. Education has also become one of the
important ways to earn a living unlike in the past when people relied on farming only. Modern
education was introduced by Europeans from the west.
6. Urbanisation: the European colonialists developed urban centres such as towns and cities in
Africa that became the centres of administration, commerce and industry. The new urban centres
attracted many Africans who sought employment opportunities. Urbanisation has created problems
such as shortage of social services, mushrooming of unplanned settlements and unemployment. It
has also created a situation in which families get linked from their traditional setting leading to the
break-up of extended families.
7. Introduction of European languages: since the advent of colonialism European languages such
as English, French and Portuguese became the languages of business, government and education
in African countries. In some African countries where there are many languages spoken, these
European languages have been used to cut the linguistic barrier so as to facilitate easy
communication. The use of these European languages has also become very important because
they are widely used in the world as languages of modern science and technology, politics and
diplomacy.
8. Changes in dressing: the western dressing styles have become very popular. The acceptable
formal dressing in offices in most African countries has been defined in terms of the western
standards. Most women wear dresses, skirts, blouses, trousers and suits with western design and
 style. Men also wear suits, trousers and shirts with a necktie. Young people have also copied
western dressing such as the wearing of leggings, tight blouses and see-through clothes.
9. Copying of western music: western music genres such as R&B, pop, disco, gospel and hip hop
have become very popular in African cities and towns. Some African singers and musicians have
copied western music. Some of them mix the local music with elements of the western music. The
use of the western music instruments is also very popular besides the local drums.
10. Emergence of the nuclear family: the extended family that serves as a society net for the
vulnerable groups such as orphans and the elderly is slowly giving way to the nuclear family
because they are more exposed to the western culture. Parents feel that they have responsibility to
take care of members of their immediate family but not of those of the extended family thereby
denying vulnerable groups.
11. Emergence of individualism: traditionally Africans had a well-established system that promoted
interdependence among members of society. Nobody would go hungry amidst plenty because
available food belonged to everybody in the community. Africans living in the urban areas now
build fenced houses to have more individual privacy and have little or no concern for the problems
of their neighbours just like in the western countries.
12. Copying of western ways of food preparation: Africans are consuming different types of food
prepared using western methods. The reason for this is that many recipe books have been written
by the westerners. Western cooking is also associated with modern life in many African societies,
for example, consumption of baked and fried foods in Malawian cities and towns is now popular.

The impacts of eastern culture on Malawian and African culture

1. Introduction of Islam: the most significant way in which the eastern culture has affected the
African culture is through the introduction of Islam. It spreads quickly to North Africa from Arabia
during the 70 ad through military conquest. Islam the spread slowly through trade (during slave
trade) and preaching. Muslims from North Africa established trade contacts with West African
communities and those from Arabia had trade links with east Africa. In Malawi the long of
interaction between the Swahili Arabs ant the Yao through trade made the latter convert to Islam.
2. Development of Swahili language in east Africa: the east African coast had a long period of
trade contacts with Arabs. Some of the Arabs established their settlements in the region and also
intermarried with the local people who spoke Bantu languages. Gradually, the Arabic vocabulary
was absorbed into the local Bantu languages to form the Swahili languages (Kiswahili) which later
became the lingua-franca of the east African people.
3. Copying of eastern ways of dressing: African Muslims have copied Arab mode of dressing.
Women do not like exposing their hair in public by covering their head. They also wear long
dresses that cover their shoulders and legs. Men wear long dresses but also a turban or a cap on
their head. The wearing of headgears by Muslim men is regarded as confirmed tradition.
4. Consumption of spices: Africans have been influenced by the eastern culture to grow and
consume spices. These spices were brought to Africa by Arab and Indian traders. People from the
eastern societies like to eat their food hot and spicy.
Western culture and religion
Western culture was developed through the emergency of Christianity. It started among the Jews as a
Jewish sect in Israel later, it grew and influence engulfing the whole Europe when it was declared as a state
religion in the Roman Empire during the late 4th century. Western Christianity was influenced by Hellenistic
religion and the roman imperial cult and evolved in the course of the European Middle Ages. It was divided
by the protestant reformation in the 16th century that led to the splitting of the Roman Catholic Church into
various denominations. Christianity is based on the life and teaching of Jesus Christ contained in the New
Testament of the Bible. Christians share a certain set of beliefs which they hold as essential to their faith.
They believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and saviour of humanity whose coming was prophesied in
the Old Testament. They believe that that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to heaven and that He
will return to earth to fulfil the rest of messianic prophecies such as resurrection of the dead, the last
judgement and final establishment of the kingdom of God. Christianity played a prominent role in the
shaping of the western civilisation because for a long time, politics and society were not detached from the
church. However, the age of enlighten of the 18th century brought about ideas of secularism in which the
affairs of the state were separated from the church. This resulted in the granting of freedom of religion to
people in various European countries.

Eastern culture and religion

Islam
It is a monotheistic religion that developed in Mecca, Saudi Arabia in the 7th century. The religion spread
through conquests, trade and preaching. It expanded beyond its birthplace to Iran, Syria, Palestine, turkey,
North Africa and India. It has significant influence in the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Muslims believe that
the word of god was revealed to Prophet Muhammad by the archangel Gabriel. These revelations were
collected and codified as the Qur’an, the Muslim holy book. The Qur’an explains that all individuals
responsible for their actions for which they will be judged by Allah. It provides guidelines for proper
behaviour within the framework of a just and equitable society. Essential to Islamic teaching is the belief
that Allah is one and true god with no partner or equal. Muslims has divided into Sunni and Shi’a groups.
Each of them claims different means of maintaining religious authority. The differences originate from the
successor of Prophet Muhammad as a leader of Muslim community after his death. The Sunni believed that
Abu Bakr, a close companion of the prophet, was the right successor because they saw the succession in
political and not spiritual terms. However, the Shi’a saw the succession in spiritual terms so they believed
that the prophet’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali, was the right successor.

Five pillars of Islam

1. Shahadah: reciting the Muslim profession of faith that there is no god but Allah and that
Muhammad is his servant and his messenger.
2. Salat: performing ritual prayers five times a day.
3. Sakat: paying alms to benefit the poor and the needy.
 4. Sawn: fasting during the month of Ramadan.
5. Hajj: making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Islam does not separate the state from religion. An Islamic community is governed by religious laws called
Sharia. There are three sources of Islamic laws (sharia), the holy Qur’an, the Sunna (practices of the
prophet) and the hadith (sayings of the prophet).

Hinduism
It is the dominant religion in India. It consists of many diverse traditions and a wide spectrum of laws and
prescriptions of daily morality. Many refer to Hinduism as sanatana dharma meaning the eternal law or the
eternal way. It refers to the eternal duties all Hindus have to follow regardless of caste, class or sect such
as honesty, refraining from injuring living things, purity, goodwill, mercy, patience and asceticism. Hindu
books are classified into sruti (revealed) and smriti(remembered). Hinduism is also described as a
rationalistic and humanistic religious experience. One of the oldest aspects of Hinduism is the caste
system. According to Hindu teaching, there are four basic castes or social classes. Each caste has its own
rules and obligation for living. The elite caste is the Brahman or priest caste. The second are the Kshatriyas
or warriors and rulers. Third are the vaisyas or merchants and farmers. Finally is the shudras or labourers.
Outside the caste system are the untouchables. These are the outcasts of Hindu society. One does not
decide his or her caste as it is decided when one is born into a particular caste. Hindus believe in their
three in one god known as Brahman who is composed of brahma (the creator), Vishnu (the preserver) and
shiva (the destroyer). They also believe in the following; a) the caste system, b) karma- the law that good
begets good and bad begets bad. Every action, thought or decision one makes has consequences that will
return to each person in the present life or in one yet to come. C) Samsara or reincarnation. This is a
journey on the cycle of life where each person experiences a series of physical births, death and rebirths.
With good karma, a person can be reborn into a higher caste or even to godhood. Bad karma can relegate
one to lower caste or even to a life as an animal in their next life. d) nirvana-it is the release of the soul from
the seemingly endless cycle of rebirths. Nirvana or salvation is attained through karma yoga or good works,
Janna yoga or knowledge and finally bhakti yoga or devotion (self-surrender to one of many personal gods
and goddess). Hindus also worship the wives of Shiva such as kali or one of the Vishnu’s ten incarnations.

Buddhism
This is a non-theistic (not involving a belief in a God or gods) religion based on a variety of traditions,
beliefs and practices. It is based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama (the weakened one). According
to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha lived and taught in the eastern part of India between 6th and 4th BC. He is
recognised as an enlightened teacher who shared his insights to help sentient (ability to feel, perceive and
experience things) beings and their suffering through elimination of ignorance and crawling to attain
sublime (complete or great) state of nirvana. Two main branches of Buddhism are; Theravada (the school
of the elders) and Mahayana (the great vehicle). The followers of Theravada are mainly found in Sri Lanka,
Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and other countries in Southeast Asia. Mahayana is found in China, Korea,
Japan, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan and other countries throughout East Asia.
Four principles of Buddha
1. Suffering (dukkha): human beings are subject to desires and cravings that are temporary. Even
when we are not suffering from outward causes like illness or bereavement we are unsatisfied.
2. Origin of suffering (samudaya) the cause of all suffering is desire (tanha). This comes in three
forms which the Buddha described as the three roots of evils, fires or poisons. These are greed
and desire, ignorance or delusion and hatred and destructive urges.
3. Cessation of suffering: the way to extinguish desire which causes sufferings is to liberate oneself
from attachment (attaining nirvana or enlighten in which one does not have greed, delusion and
hatred). Nirvana in Buddhism understood as a state of mind that human can reach (does not
believe in the existence of soul). It is a state of profound spiritual joy without negative emotions and
fears. Someone who reaches nirvana does not immediate disappear to a heavenly realm but is
filled with compassion for all living things. After death an enlightened person gets liberated from the
cycle of rebirth. The Buddha discouraged his members from asking questions about nirvana. He
wanted them to concentrate on freeing themselves from the suffering.
4. Path to the cessation of suffering (magga): it is called the eightfold path to end suffering. These
are right understanding (sammaditthi) of the teachings of the Buddha by practicing and judging for
oneself if they are true;
i. Right intention: a commitment to cultivate the right attitudes
ii. Right speech: speaking truthfully, avoiding slander, gossip and abusive speech
iii. Right action: behaving peacefully and harmoniously, refraining from stealing, killing and
overindulgence in sensual pleasure.
iv. Right livelihood: avoid making a living in ways that can cause harm such as exploiting
people or killing animals or selling intoxicants or weapons.
v. Right effort: cultivating positive states of mind, freeing oneself from evil and preventing
them from arising in future.
vi. Right mindful: developing awareness of the body, sensation, feelings and states of mind.
vii. Right concentration: developing the mental focus necessary for this awareness.

Sikhism
It is a monotheistic religion founded in the Punjab in India by Guru Nanak. Its central teaching is the belief
in the concept of the oneness of God (Vahiguru) who is shapeless, has no gender, timeless and cannot be
seen with the physical eye. Sikhs (followers of Sikhism) believe that before creation all that existed was
God. They also believe that all religions and religious traditions are true and valid. Sikh teaching
emphasizes on the principles of equality and rejects discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and gender.

Shinto
It is the indigenous polytheist (believe in many gods and goddess) religion of Japan. There are many public
shrines of Shinto devoted to the worship of Japanese gods suited to various purposes such as war
memorials and harvest festivals. Shinto is the ancient traditional religion of Japan and there are no formal
rituals for membership.

African culture and religion

African Traditional Religion (ATR)

It is a collection of various religious beliefs and practices in African societies that share some common
features such as; belief in one God above a host of lesser gods or semi-divine figures, belief in ancestral
spirits, idea of sacrifice involving the death of a living thing to ensure divine protection and generosity, the
rights of passage to move from childhood to adulthood and from life to death and absence of sacred books.
Sacred places are mostly located in nature such as trees, caves, rocks, rivers and mountains. ATR is
based mainly on oral transmission. It has no founders or reformers and has no missionaries to propagate
the religion. Most Africans have connection with ATR because it is embedded in traditional practices. As a
result many people who claim to be Christians or Muslims practice it in various forms such as using
traditional medicine, taking part in initiation ceremonies and cultural festivals. Followers of ATR are mostly
found in sub-Saharan Africa. They worship the supreme God through consultation with lesser deities and
ancestral spirits. The deities and spirits are honoured through sacrifice of animals, beer and other things.
The will of God is sought by the believers through consulting a person who has the gift of communication
with the spirits (priest or priestess).

The influence of culture on religion

Christianity and Islam were both influenced by Jewish religion and culture. The Jewish holy book ‘the
Torah’ is incorporated in the Old Testament of the holy bible. This is also incorporated in the holy Qur’an for
the Muslims. The beliefs about one God, angels, prophets and last judgement were drawn from the Jewish
culture. Islam was heavily influenced by the Arab culture such as the use of the Arabic language and the
Arab mode of dressing. Christianity was also influenced by Greek and Roman cultures. For example
Christian communities adopted the hierarchal model of Roman political organisation (bishops have
authority over priests and archbishops or popes have authority over everyone). There are different versions
of Christianity due to cultural influences such as Ethiopian orthodox Christianity, Egyptian orthodox
Christianity and Kimbanguism (Congolese version).

The influence of African culture on Christianity

a. Sionist independent churches also known as spirit churches put emphasis on spiritual and physical
healing through the intervention of the Holy Spirit. This emphasis reflects the influence of African
religious beliefs and practices. Sionist prophets are in many ways similar to priests and healers in
ATR.
b. Sionist worship is characterised by singing, dancing to drums and other African musical
instruments, possession by the Holy Spirit and healing of illnesses. This shows influence of African
cultural values, beliefs and practices on some Christian churches.
 c. Drums and other musical instruments are used by choirs in Christian churches.

Cultural preservation
This is the keeping of the cultural heritage of a group or a society by protecting it from loss, damage or
destruction. Cultural heritage refers to both tangible and intangible cultural products that are inherited from
generations, maintained in the present and passed on to the next generation. Examples of tangible aspects
of culture are buildings, monuments, artefacts, books and works of art such as paintings. Intangible aspects
include traditions, customs, habits, knowledge, language, folktale and other ideas.

Strategies used for preserving culture

1. Use of policy and legislation

Appropriate policies and laws can help to limit and prevent infiltration of harmful imported cultural products.
For example, a country can enact laws and adopt policies guiding the cultural content of programmes on
radio and television broadcasters so that people, especially the youth are given more exposure to local
culture. These instruments can be used to censor the cultural content of foreign programmes and films so
that they are adapted to the local culture.

2. Building cultural infrastructures

Having appropriate cultural infrastructure such as museums, theatres and art galleries can help to preserve
culture. A museum is a building used to display and storage of artefacts or objects that have both cultural
and historical significance. An art gallery is a building for the exhibition of pieces of visual art and crafts
such as paintings, textiles, costumes, drawings, artist’s books, furniture e. t. c. at galleries may also have
space for hosting other artistic activities such as performance art, music concert and poetry readings.

3. Using books to document cultural heritage

Books on culture can be stored in libraries or achieves where they can be accessed and thus help in
promoting and passing on important cultural values, beliefs and practices to the future generations.

4. Promoting cultural festivals

A cultural festival is an event organised by people to celebrate their culture and also for entertainment.
Encouraging people to hold cultural festivals to showcase their traditional dances, music, poetry, folktales,
arts and other aspects of culture can help to enhance their cultural belongingness. This can also assist in
making sure that young people are kept in touch with their culture and so guaranteeing its continuity.

5. Incorporating culture education in the curriculum

Education can be used to shape appropriate attitudes towards the local culture. Ensuring that students
learn about their culture and encouraging them to value it, can help to instil a sense of cultural pride. This
can assist in preserving culture even in the face of globalisation that is threaten the survival of African
culture.

6. Using mass media to sensitise people on the importance of their culture

Increasing public awareness and understanding using mass media such as radio, television, internet and
newspapers is critical in achieving the conservation and preservation of a country’s cultural heritage.
Communities should be encouraged to understand the importance and challenges facing their culture so
that they take an active role in saving and preserving it for the benefit of the future generations.

7. Creating cultural organisations, clubs and societies

These can raise awareness through their activities and lobby for appropriate laws and policies for the
protection and preservation of the cultural heritage.

8. Cooperating with international stakeholders for support

Working with relevant international organisations and foreign government can help to secure financial
assistance for the protection of cultural heritage site. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and cultural
organisation (UNESCO) helps to provide support in this area. Its policy is to help in protecting and
preserving cultural property anywhere in the world. Some cultural heritage sites such as the Great
Simbabwe ruins, the great pyramids of Egypt and the ancient Rock churches of Ethiopia have been
declared world heritage sites thereby making them eligible for UNESCO funding for their protection.
UNESCO also provides support for festivals, exhibitions and other cultural issues such as collection and
documentation of the traditions.

9. Maintaining traditional chains of command

Allowing traditional leaders to play their rightful role in the chain of command between the government and
the rural areas in matters of community development can help to make them more relevant. Traditional
leaders are custodians of culture and increasing their visibility can help to raise the profile of cultural identity
which is critical to preserve culture.

10. Reproducing manuscripts and other items that contain vital cultural information

Manuscripts and other movable cultural heritage such as artefacts are subject to loss and decay. So they
need to reproduce them as a way of ensuring preservation. This can also increase access to current and
next generations.

Importance of preserving culture

1. Promotion of cultural identity

Cultural preservation helps to ensure that people’s culture is properly defined and handed down to the next
generations without distortion. This generates pride and fosters a sense of empowerment and identity for
members of a society. Having a sense of pride in pride in your cultural heritage can help to build a more
successful nation.

2. Creation of opportunities for cultural tourism

Preserving culture can help to attract more tourists who may have the desire to enjoy unique cultural
products. These tourists bring foreign exchange into the country and so help in satisfying foreign currency
requirements for the economy.

3. Creation of employment opportunities

Cultural centres such as museums and art galleries need workers to look after them and guide visitors. This
can help to reduce levels of unemployment. Some cultural products such as dances, paintings, pieces of
art and crafts can be marketed and generate income for many people to earn their living.

4. Cultural sustenance

Preservation of culture makes it sustenance so that it benefits both the present and the future generations.
Preservation helps to prolong the lifespan of the cultural property that is bound to decay or deteriorate such
as piece of art, consumes, manuscripts, monuments and buildings. It can also help to ensure that
significant cultural resources that may be targeted for demolition to pay way for development projects are
spared.

5. Promotes understanding

Preserving culture can help others to understand the unique aspects of your society. This is important as it
helps to appreciate and respect your cultural identity. It also promotes your own understanding of other
cultures.

6. Pass on culture from generation to generation

Preserving culture helps to it to be handed down from one generation to another without significant loss or
distortions.

Constraints faced in the process of preserving culture

1. Changes in ideologies between generations

Efforts to preserve culture maybe hampered by the new generation whose ideas, beliefs and worldviews
are new and in conflict with the old cultural practices, beliefs and values. Traditional religious ideologies
are seen as old fashioned and heathen because people believe in modern Islamic or Christian ideologies.

2. Resistance of new generations

Young people associate with new beliefs, ideas and modern ways of doing things. Quite often the new
generation resist some cultural beliefs, practices and ideas because they represent the old ways of doing
things. This presents a very obstacle to cultural preservation. Unfortunately, culture cannot survive without
passing it on the new generation

3. Influence of the media

With the advent of advanced technology, people increasingly depend on the information that is provided by
the radio, television, newspapers, magazines and internet. The media influences the youth by creating a
preconceived reality and offering to them as truth. This becomes a real stumbling block to the preservation
of culture because young people copy certain beliefs, values and practices that are in conflicts with
traditional culture and sometimes not based on reality even in the countries of origin.

4. Modernisation

Modernisation refers to a progressive tradition from a traditional to a modern society. Preservation of

culture is made more difficult by the conflict between modernisation and the traditional cultural values that
are seen as an impediment to progress. Modernisation demands that people’s way of living, habits,
practices and values change so that they may march with present needs and relevant to modern society.

5. Lack of resources

Preservation of culture requires both human and financial resources. Construction of museums, art
galleries, theatres, cultural centres and other critical infrastructure require a lot of money. Financial
resources are also needed for the promotion of culture to organise public performances, advertising,
broadcasting, publishing and distribution of cultural materials. Management of museum, art galleries and
other cultural conservation and preservation structures need well trained people.

6. Need for change

Some cultural attitudes and practices are a hindrance to development and they have to be changed or
dropped. Cultural practices such as sexual cleansing, death cleansing and wife inheritance are hindrance
to development and also a violation of human rights. Cultural attitudes that encourage gender inequality are
also counter-productive and have to be dropped.

Relationship between culture and development

While certain cultural practices can help to encourage and accelerate development there are also other
practices that can hinder development. The contribution of culture to development depends on the extent to
which a society makes use of certain cultural aspects that have the potential to facilitate meaning
development and to generate wealth.

Ways in which culture can contribute to development

1. Unity
Culture enhances unity by fostering a common cultural identity for people. This common cultural identity
can be developed even where appears to be cultural diversity by putting more emphasis on common
characteristics. Unity promotes confidence and cooperation among people for national development.

2. Creation of employment

Some people may earn their living by performing traditional dances and songs. Others may generate their
income by selling traditional works of arts and crafts and also by working as guide for tourists to cultural
heritage sites as well as working in museums, theatres and galleries.

3. Cultural tourism

This is the movement of persons (tourists) to cultural attraction away from their normal place of residence,
with intention to gather information and experiences to satisfy their curiosity. Culture can help to promote
the growth of cultural tourism. Cultural tourists spend more time and money in an area thereby helping to
bring more foreign exchange into the country. This also promotes employment.

4. Means of communication

Culture can be used to facilitate communication to bring about sustainable development. Traditional songs,
dances, folktales and proverbs can be used to teach people vital information on the proper use of natural
resources to achieve sustainable development.

Cultural practices which hinder development

These are wife inheritance, bonus wife, sexual cleansing, death cleansing and wife swapping. Those lead
to violation of human rights and the spread of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS. There are
cultural taboos that negatively affect the health of some individuals such as refusing pregnant women
consumption of certain food stuffs such as eggs, pumpkins, cat fish (mlamba), mice, goat’s intestines and
tomatoes. A person who is not healthy cannot contribute actively to family, community and national
development such practices and beliefs should be discarded.
 TOPIC 2: RIGHTS OF SPECIAL GROUPS
Special groups in society
Special groups are those people whose condition, biological or social status and age make them vulnerable
to discrimination and other forms of human rights abuses and therefore need special treatment and
protection. People belonging to these groups have certain common characteristics or are in a situation that
makes them vulnerable to discrimination. These groups include; ethnic minorities, refugees, migrant
workers, women, children and people with HIV/AIDS, person with disabilities, the elderly and other
disadvantaged groups.

Rights of special groups

1. Convention on the rights of the child (CRC)

This was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in November, 1989. This convention defines a
child as any person under the age of 18. However, the constitution of the republic of Malawi defines a child
as a person below the age of 16. Children are more vulnerable to wars, exploitation, malnutrition, physical
and psychological ill-treatment and trafficking and rely on adults for the enforcements of their human rights.
The CRC is an international document that sets out all the rights that children have. Some of the rights of
children are;

 The right to equal treatment before the law

 The right to be given a name and a family name
 The right to nationality
 The right to know and be raised by their parents
 The right to receive reasonable maintenance by parents who must be supported by the state
through appropriate measures particularly for orphans, children with disabilities and other
disadvantaged children.
 The right to be protected from exploitation or any treatment, work or punishment which is likely to
be hazardous interfere with their education or be harmful to their health or their physical, mental,
spiritual or social development.

The rights of the child contained in the CRC are meant to achieve two broad objectives and these are; a) to
facilitate the survival, development, participation and protection of the child. B) To facilitate intra- and inter-
generational fairness.

2. Convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW)

This is an international legal instrument that was adopted in 1979 by the United Nations General Assembly.
Malawi signed it in 1987 and immediately adopted a policy of eliminating discrimination against women and
girls. It defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to
end such discrimination. CEDAW defines discrimination against women as any distinction, exclusion or
restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the
recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of
women and men, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil
or other field. Some of the human rights for women are;

 The right to equal employment and pay

 The right to regulate fertility
 The right to enter into contracts, acquire and maintain property
 The right to retain custody of children
 The right to be protected from sexual abuse, harassment and violence
 The right to have access to equal economic opportunities.

3. Standard minimum rules for the treatment of prisoners

These were adopted on 30th august, 1955 by the United Nations Congress on the prevention of crime and
the treatment of offenders and approved by the economic and social council in resolution of 31st July, 1957
and 13th May 1977. This document provides guidelines for international and domestic law for citizens held
in prisons and other forms of custody. It contains standards which set out what is accepted as being good
principles and practices in the treatment of prisoners. Prisoners are a special group because they cannot
enjoy certain rights such as freedom of association and freedom of movement and they are vulnerable to
violence and brutality in the prison. Some of their rights are;

 The right to inform a family of their imprisonment or transfer to another institution

 The right to have access to information
 The right to be visited by a spouse or relatives
 The right to be heard
 The right to adequate health
 The right to suitable clothing and bedding
 The right to food of nutritional value and adequate for health and strength and well prepared.
 The right to access medical care.
 The right not to be physically attacked by prison staff and other prisoners
 The right to some personal privacy
 The right to be informed at once of the death or serious illness of any near relative.

4. Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD)

The CRPD is an international treaty that sets out international human rights standards for all persons with
disabilities. It views persons with disabilities as having legal rights and protects them from discrimination.
The convention was adopted in 2006 by the United Nations General Assembly and it took effect on 3 rd May
2008. Some of the rights of people with disabilities are;
  The right to live independently and be included in the community
 The right to person mobility, rehabilitation and habitation
 The right to participate in political and public life
 The right to participate in cultural activities
 The right to recreation and sport
 The right to be employed
 The right to enjoy social protection
 The right to live in an accessible built and technological environment
 The right to access justice
 The right to education

5. Rights of people with mental disorders

Mental disorders or mental disabilities affect the way people think and behave and their capacity to protect
their own rights and interests and their decision making abilities. Persons with mental disorders constitute a
vulnerable section of the society and they face stigma, discrimination and marginalisation in most society.
Stigmatization increases the probability that they will not be offered the treatment they need or they will be
offered services that are of inferior quality. Marginalization and discrimination also increase the risk of
violation of their civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. They face stigma and discrimination
because of the risk of violence or harm and impairments in their decision making capacities. Some of their
rights are;

 The right to vote

 The right to equality and non-discrimination
 The right to dignity and respect
 The right to privacy
 The right to own property
 Freedom of movement and choice of residence
 The right to voluntary and involuntary psychiatric treatment

6. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,
Religious and Linguistic Minorities

This is a document that sets out essential standards and offers guidance to states in adopting appropriate
legislative and other measures to secure the rights of person belonging to minorities. A minority is a group
of people that is inferior to the rest of the population of a state, in a non-dominant position, whose members
being of the state possess ethnic, religious or linguistic characteristics differing from those of the rest of
population. Achieving effective participation of minorities, it requires promotion and implementation of
human rights. Minorities are entitled to the following human rights;

 The right to be protected from all forms of discrimination

  The right to equal opportunities in education and employment
 The right to adequate standard of living
 The right to maintain their own cultural practices and to be recognised
 The right to speak their language and to preserve it
 The right to be protected from persecution

7. Convention relating to the status of stateless persons (CSSP)

The United Nations adopted the CSSP in 1954. A stateless person is someone who is not considered as a
national by any state under the operation of its laws. Thus, a stateless person has no citizenship or
nationality. People can be stateless for a variety of reasons including inequitable laws in some countries
such as marriage statutes which may deny a spouse acquisition of nationality, government may change
their nationally laws and deny certain groups nationality under the new laws in order to marginalise them or
to facilitate their expulsion from the state’s territory; flawed or discriminatory administrative practices, lack of
proper registration of children at birth, transfer of territory and formation of new states may leave a lot of
stateless or with disputed claims of citizenship, living in a foreign country as a refugee due to conflict at
home, economic reasons and withdrawal or renunciation of citizenship without acquiring another. Their
human rights are;

 The right to public relief and assistance

 The right to access medical care and education
 The right to earn a living through work
 The right to apply for citizenship
 The right to be protected from all forms of discrimination
 The right to free access to court
 The right to be issued with identity and travel document
 The right not to be forcibly returned to their home country
 Freedom of religion
 Freedom of movement

8. International convention on the protection of the rights of all migrant workers and members
of their families (CMW)

This legal instrument was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1990. It states that persons who qualify
as migrant workers under its provisions are entitled to enjoy their human rights regardless of their legal
status. It aims at guaranteeing equality of treatment and the same working conditions for migrants and
nationals, as well as guaranteeing the rights of migrants to maintain ties to their country of origin. Migrant
workers often face discrimination in terms of employment as they are excluded from certain well-paying
jobs meant for nationals. They are also subjected to inferior working conditions and denied the right to
participate in trade unions. Vulnerability of migrant workers increases when they are recruited and
employed illegally. They are forced to accept abhorrent conditions which may amount to modern day
slavery or forced labour. The CMW guarantees the following rights for migrant workers;

 The right to be protected from inhumane living and working conditions, physical and sexual abuse
and degraded treatment
 The right to access information on their rights
 The right to legal equality
 The right to participate in trade unions
 The right to return to their country of origin if they wish or pay occasional visits and maintain
cultural links with their country of origin.
 The right to transfer their earnings to their home country

9. Rights of the elderly

The elderly often find themselves in circumstances that render them less active within society. Older
persons may lose mental and physical capabilities leaving them vulnerable to financial, physical and other
types of exploitation. They are vulnerable to abuse and various forms of negative stereotyping and
discrimination. They often have limited access to healthcare and may face specific age-related restrictions
in many fields such as discrimination in hiring, promotion and dismissal. They are entitled to the following
rights;

 The right to live in dignity and have security

 The right to be protected from exploitation and physical or mental abuse
 The right to access educational, cultural, spiritual and recreational resources of society
 The right to have access to social and legal services to enhance their protection and care
 The right to have adequate food, water, shelter, clothing and health care.
 The right to participate in the formulation and implementation of policies that directly affect their
well-being.

10. Rights of people living with HIV/AIDS

Where misinformation, taboos, prejudice and fear regarding HIV/AIDS predominate, fundamental human
rights are repeatedly abused and violated. Some of their human rights are;

 The right to make decisions on reproduction

 The right to be protected from discrimination on the basis of their HIV/AIDS positive status
 The right to medical treatment and care from the health services providers
 The right to keep their HIV/AIDS positive status private and confidential
 The right to equal access to education
 The right to protection and equality before the law
 The right not to be isolated because of their HIV positive status
  The right not to be subjected to medical or scientific experiment without informed consent.

The importance of protecting the rights of special groups

1. It helps to ensure equal access to humanitarian assistance in conflicts or natural disasters
2. It helps in building politically and socially more stable and inclusive societies in which everyone
exercises their rights on equal footing and freely express and pursue their legitimate aspirations.
3. It offers effective and more realistic means of preventing conflicts
4. It promotes participation of otherwise disadvantaged groups in decision making processes through
inclusive policies that are inherent in rights of special groups.
5. It enables special groups to have a share of their benefits of development and economic progress
on equal footing with the rest of the society.
6. It helps to protect vulnerable groups from discrimination and wanton exploitation by more dominant
and powerful groups in society
7. It helps to ensure that there is universal enjoyment of human rights by all regardless of the
physical, biological and social differences that make special groups vulnerable to forms of abuse.

Cases of violations of human rights for special groups

1. Mutilation of female genital organs

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is the partial or removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to
the female genital organs for cultural rather than medical reasons. Other names for FGM include female
genital cutting, female circumcision or ritual female surgery. They use a razor or knife to cut female
genitals. The different types of FGM include;

Type 1: removal of the clitoral hood or prepuce and the clitoris may be removed in part or in total

Type 2: partial or total removal of the clitoris and inner labia. The outer labia may or may not be removed.

Type 3: (infibulations) the inner and outer labia are partly or totally removed and the wound is stitched
together closing the vagina, leaving a small gap to allow the passage of urine and menstrual fluid. The
vaginal passage is cut open during the marriage to allow penetration by the husband and prepare for
childbirth.

Type 4: piercing, scraping or using corrosive substances designed to scar and narrow the vagina.

The reasons for FGM vary considerably and are rooted in culture and religious beliefs. They believe that
FGM has the following advantages; to preserve a girl’s virginity, to enhance beauty and cleanliness, to
prevent a girl from developing male traits, to reduce sexual desire for extra sexual partners. FGM has
negative effects on women’s health such as severe pain and bleeding, shock and death from loss of blood,
serious damage of sexual organs, painful sexual intercourse, increased risk of infertility and many more.

2. Genocide
This is the most crime against humanity and it amounts to a gross violation of the right to life. Usually it is
directed at minority groups such as the killing of about 6 million Jews in Nazi-occupied European in the
1930s and 1940s, the killing of about one million educated city dwellers by the Khmer Rouge regime in
Cambodia in the 1970s and the mass killing of the Tutsi in Rwanda by the Hutu in 1994.

3. Discrimination

It is any action or practice that results in giving less favourable treatment to certain individuals or groups of
people due to actual differences and characteristics. It refers to any exclusion, restriction or preference
which has the purpose or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise on equal
footing of human rights of the affected groups and individuals. It affects special groups.

4. Child labour

This refers to any work that deprives children of their childhood, interferes with their education, and that is
socially, morally, mentally or physical dangerous and harmful. It involves children being enslaved,
separated from their families, exposed to serious hazards and illness. They are engaged in agricultural
labour, in mining, in manufacturing, in domestic work, construction, forced labour, commercial sexual
exploitation, drug trafficking and organised begging. In some cases children do not receive payment, only
food and a place to sleep. Usually they receive no compensation when they get injured and they are
subjected to violence or maltreatment by their employer. In Malawi, child labour is common in Tobacco and
tea growing areas where children are regarded as a source of cheap labour.

5. Child negligence

Child negligence is a form of child abuse that involves the persistent lack of parental or adult support to
meet a child’s basic physical and psychological needs. This may result in the serious impairment of the
child’s health, physical, emotional or mental development. It may involve a parent or any responsible adult
not providing adequate food, clothing and shelter; not protecting a child from physical and emotional harm
or danger; not supervising the child adequately and not ensuring the child has access to appropriate
medical care and treatment. Forms of child negligence include: allowing the child witness violence or
severe abuse between parents or adults, ignoring, insulting or threatening the child with violence, not
providing the child with a safe environment and emotional support and many more. This may affect the
behaviour and performance of the child at school and how the child may interact with other children;
inability to control emotions or impulses; eating and sleeping disorders; suffering from depression, anxiety,
low self-esteem, engaging in drug abuse, alcohol and sexual activities leading to teen pregnancy or
fatherhood.

6. Forced prostitution

This is a condition of being compelled to engage in commercial sexual activity due to threats or violence
(sexual slavery). The main victims are women, girls and children. There are different ways in which they
are forced into prostitution. Often they are tricked by seemingly trustworthy individuals who promise tooffer
them a highly rewarding job opportunity in a foreign country. Once they travel to the foreign country, they
are told to have accumulated debt which they have to settle by earning money through sex. As a result they
end up in brothels and the money they make from selling their bodies is handed over to their agents who
make profits from the trade. Sometimes parents force their children, particularly girls to start prostitution
due to poverty. So they earn money for the family. In most cases women and girls get abducted or
kidnapped and forced into prostitution. They are denied access to their passports and are held brothels
against their will. They are also quite often victims of rape and other assault. Forced prostitution is a form of
violation of human rights. Both the CRC and CEDAW have provisions against forced prostitution.

7. Torture of prisoners

This is the act of deliberately and systematically inflicting severe physical and psychological pain and
possibly injury to a prisoner as a form of punishment or to extract confession to crime. It can take a form of
starvation, deprivation of sleep, death threats, beatings, exposure to electric shocks and other physical
assaults. Torture is prohibited under international law and the domestic laws of most countries. It is a
violation of human rights.

8. Slavery

This is the state or condition in which a person is owned and treated as property of another. A slave does
not enjoy human rights and is forced to work for the owner without any choice or pay. As property, a slave
can be bought and sold (slave trade). For many years until the late 19th Century, millions of Africans were
sold into slavery to work in plantations and mines in European colonies and as domestic workers in the
Arab world and other places. They underwent great suffering through massive torture and economic
exploitation in the plantations. Slavery is illegal under international law. UDHR, UN and International
Covenant on Civil and Political rights banned slavery. Modern slavery exists in forms of forced marriage,
forced prostitution, child labour, forced labour or debt bondage. Bonded labour/debt bondage involves
forcing a person to work for someone as a means to repay debt. Due to low wages owing to deductions for
food, lodging and high interest rates, the labourer may get stuck because of failure to pay off their debt.

Ways of promoting social justice and fairness for special groups

1. Enacting laws that specifically protect the rights of special groups.
2. Encouraging people to report cases of human rights violation for special groups.
3. Increasing public awareness on the plight of special groups through radio programmes, dramatic
performances and public education campaigns.
4. Using influential people in society such as chiefs, religious leaders and politicians to advocate for
the rights of special groups.
5. Using affirmative action, such as quota and exemption, to give special groups adequate
representation in areas they are disadvantaged.
6. Incorporating human rights issues for special groups in the education curriculum.
 TOPIC 3: TAXATION
Institutions responsible for taxes in Malawi

Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA)

The Malawi Revenue Authority is an agency of the government under the ministry of finance responsible for
assessment, collection and accounting for tax revenues. It was established by Act of Parliament in 1998 to
improve on the functions previously carried out by the Department of Customs and Excise and the ministry
of the ministry of finance. Its duty is to collect revenues through fair, efficient and transparent administration
of the Malawi tax and customs laws while providing high quality service to all taxpayers. MRA is headed by
the Commissioner General.

Roles and responsibilities of the Malawi Revenue Authority

 Assessment, collection and receipt of specified revenue
 Promoting voluntary tax compliance to the highest degree possible
 Improvement of standard of services given to taxpayers with a view of improving efficiency and
effectiveness and maximising revenue collection.
 Taking measures as may be required to counteract tax fraud and other forms of fiscal evasion.
 Advising the Ministry of Finance on matters of revenue policy and matters relating to the
administration and collection of revenue.
 Subject to the stated tax laws, performing any other duties related to the revenue as the minister of
finance may direct.

Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM)

The RBM is the central bank of Malawi. It was established under the Act of Parliament in July 1964 and
started its operations in June 1965 in Blantyre

Roles and responsibilities of the Reserve Bank of Malawi

 Formulating monetary policies and maintain price stability in the economy as to minimise inflation.
This is done by controlling money supply growth using 4 major policy instruments: open market
operations, liquidity reserve requirement, discount rate and purchase arrangements.
 Issuing legal tender currency in Malawi. This is done by RBM only
 Preserving the value of the kwacha both externally and internally. The RBM ensures that the
exchange rate is stable at all times. Thus it strives to ensure that money that is in circulation in the
country should be backed up by an equivalent level of foreign reserves.
 Maintaining government accounts and managing government domestic debt.
  Acting as a banker to other banks in Malawi. It acts as a banker to the commercial banks by
keeping commercial bank deposits. The money can be withdrawn by commercial banks when they
ran out of liquidity in their vaults.
 Acting as a leader of last resort for financial institutions. This helps to alleviate liquidity pressure in
the financial system. The RBM does this by lending to banks through the Discount Window
 Establishing money and capital markets. The RBM is the authority responsible for regulating and
supervising the proper functioning of money and capital markets. It is responsible for the
development of the capital market and provision of rules and regulations for fair and orderly
conditions.
 Supervising banks and other financial institutions to protect their liquidity, equity base and ensure
their overall viability and stability.
 Issuing local registered stocks and treasury bills as a way of raising resources for government to
argument its revenues. The RBM also underwrites or meets the difference in case of under
subscriptions from the financial sector, parastatals and the private sector.
 To promote development and economic growth in Malawi by implementing several measures
designed to influence the money supply and availability of credit, interest rates an exchange rates
with the view to promoting growth, employment, stability in prices and a sustainable balance of
payments position.
 Collecting and analysing economic data from the financial and other sectors for research and
policy purposes.

Ministry of Finance
The Ministry of Finance has the mandate to formulate economic and fiscal policy and manage financial and
material resources of the government of Malawi in order to realise balanced and sustainable economic
growth and to reduce poverty.

Organisational structure of the Ministry of Finance

The Ministry of Finance comprises the Treasury and the Accountant General’s Department (AGD), RBM,
MRA, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), the Local Development Fund (LDF) and all treasury funds. The
Ministry Headquarters provides leadership for the whole ministry and it is headed by the secretary
(administration) who is responsible for administration. Below the secretary to the treasury and the principal
secretary are directors who head various divisions. These are;

 Budget Division
 Economic Affairs Division
 Debt Aid Management Division
 Revenue Policy Division
 Pension Division
 Administration Division
 Human Resource Management and Development Division
Roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Finance
 To prepare revenue and expenditure estimates for every financial year
 To monitor all revenues and expenditures in government departments
 Drafting revenue policies
 Mobilising financial and other resources for development
 Initialising debate on proposed changes to tax laws
 Presenting to cabinet for approval proposed tax charges

National Assembly (Parliament)

Taxes being part of revenue, which is further part of the National budget, get approved by the National
Assembly. Parliament is headed by the Speaker.

Roles and responsibilities of Parliament

 To make and repeal laws
 To receive, amend, accept or reject government bills and private bills
 Debate and vote on motions in relation to any matter including impeachment of the president or
vice president.

Ministry of Justice
It has the following key departments: Minister’s office, Attorney General Chambers comprising of the
Drafting and Civil Litigation Sections, Directorate of Public Prosecutions, Department of Legal Aid,
Department of Administrator General, Department of Registrar General and Administration and Support
Services.

Roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Justice

 Drafting legislation and vetting contracts, agreements and other legal instruments on behalf of
government
 Ensuring the proper prosecution of persons accused of crime
 Providing sound legal advice to all ministries and departments of the government
 Conducting civil litigation on behalf of government
 Providing legal aid to deserving members of the public who cannot afford the costs of private legal
presentation
 Providing a conducive legal framework for the incorporation of trusts, registration of companies,
business and various legal instruments
 Providing efficient administration of deceased estates

Stages followed in formulating and changing taxes

1. Development of an idea: this can be generated from different groups such as lobby groups, the
media, public services, companies, government, individuals and others.
2. Debate by interest groups: once ideas have been generated, interest groups in this case Malawi
Revenue Authority and Revenue Policy Division of the Ministry of Finance debate on the ideas to
establish their viability for consideration. They also do an economic analysis to assess their overall
impact on the economy. Once a consensus has been reached, the ideas is taken to the Minister of
Finance
3. Discussion by cabinet: the Minister of Finance presents the idea to the cabinet where it is
discussed. Once approved by the cabinet, the tax proposal is included in the budget statement for
presentation to parliament.
4. Drafting of a bill by the Ministry of Justice: the tax proposal is then referred to the Ministry of
Justice to Draft a bill for presentation to parliament.
5. Debate and adoption by parliament: once the bill is presented to parliament, it is debated by
Member of Parliament. If the bill is adopted it is sent to the president for ascent of approval. When
it is approved, the bill becomes a law and is subsequently gazetted.
6. Implementation by MRA: the MRA starts using the law once it is gazetted.

Idea
MRA Interest
administeri groups
ng debate

Law
Finance
gazetted
minister
presents to
cabinet

Presidential
Min. of
assent
justice
prepares bill

Law Parliament
adoption debates
A chart above is showing how tax laws are made in Malawi

The roles of different institution in formulating and changing taxes

 Malawi Revenue Authority: submits tax proposals to the Ministry of Finance for consideration
 Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industrial (MCCI): proposes changes to
different taxes by making written submissions to the Minister of Finance for consideration
 Ministry of Finance: drafts the proposed changes and presents the same to cabinet for discussion
and approval
 Ministry of Justice: drafts tax bills to be sent to parliament for debate and adoption into law
 National Assembly: debates and adopts or rejects proposed tax laws.

The role of citizens in formulating and changing taxes

 To attend consultative meetings that is conducted to get views from various stakeholders on tax
proposals. Through consultative meetings, citizens can participate in the debate and submit their
proposal on various taxes.

How different taxes are collected

a). Custom & Excise Division: Customs Duty, Excise Duty, Import VAT, Export Duty and Dumping Duty.

b). Domestic Division: Fringe Benefit Tax, Non-resident Tax, Value Added Tax (VAT), Pay As You Earn
(PAYE), Withholding Tax, Corporate Tax, Turnover Tax

Fringe Benefits Tax

Fringe benefit means any asset, service or any other benefit in kind provided by or on behalf of an
employer to an employee, if such benefit includes an element of personal benefit to the employee. Fringe
benefit tax is therefore a tax charged on the total taxable value of such fringe benefits enjoyed by an
employee but payable by the employer. Benefits paid to an employee by the employer in cash is exempted
from fringe benefits tax since this forms part of employee’s income and is taxed on the recipient. The rate of
tax used to find fringe benefit tax is 30%. Any employer providing fringe benefits to one or more of its
employees that have an annual taxable income that is applicable is required to register with the
Commissioner General of the MRA by completing a fringe benefit tax form. This should be done within the
month that fringe benefits begin to be provided by the employer.

Other fringe benefits

 Utilities such as water, electricity and telephone

 Household items of any kind
  Domestic services such as gardener, maids, security guards and watchmen, the taxable value are
the cost to the employer. Where the property is owned by the employer, the cost of gardener,
security guard and watchman does not constitute a taxable benefit.
 Passages: the cost of fares from the country of recruitment to Malawi at the beginning and the end
of contract is not taxable as long as the contract has been approved by the Commissioner General
of the MRA. Other passages for holidays paid by the employer are taxable at the cost of the
passages regardless of whether the employee is entitled of such passages or not.

Value Added Tax (VAT)

This is a consumption tax that is levied on taxable goods and services imported into or supplied in Malawi.

Value Added Tax registration

Any person or organisation supplying taxable goods and services and makes sales of a legally defined
threshold or believes that they will make such sales within the period of 12 months have to register for VAT.

Legal entities that may register for VAT

Sole proprietor: a sole proprietor is an individual running a business on his or her own to make profit.
Such business that does not enjoy limited liability in that personal property can be seized or sold to settle
any liabilities if it becomes insolvent. A sole proprietor is personally responsible for his/her business debt.
He/she should register for VAT if their annual sales reach the set VAT registration threshold.

Limited company: this is a business concern recognised as a legal person, separate from its owners.
Shareholders have no liability beyond the company’s debt. Their personal property cannot be seized to pay
off debts of shares were fully paid for. Liability would only extend to the shareholder’s personal property if
the shares were not fully paid for. Liability is limited to the value of the unpaid amount owed to complete
purchase of shares. A limited company needs to register for VAT. The owners of a limited company are
called shareholders of the company. The money raised through the selling of shares is called share capital
and it is invested in the company. When the company makes profit, it is paid to shareholders as dividends.

Partnership: this is a single business where two or more people share ownership. Each partner
contributes to all aspects of the business, including money, property, labour or skill. Under a partnership
agreement, individuals undertake to share the profits and losses of the business. Each partner is
responsible and liable for the actions, debts and assets of the partnership. A partner is also registered for
VAT as per legal requirement.

Government department: some government departments that make taxable supplies are registered for
VAT just like any other business enterprise. Clubs, associations and other unincorporated organisations.
These are registered for VAT provided they make taxable supplies and the turnover reaches or exceeds
the VAT threshold.
Types of VAT registration
1. Compulsory registration: any business entity that makes taxable supplies and its turnover
reaches or exceeds the VAT threshold per annum is required by law to apply for VAT registration
to the commission General within 30 days and failure to do so attracts a penalty.
2. Voluntary registration: any business person who feels they would suffer for not registering for
VAT, they can apply to the Commission General for voluntary registration although their turnover is
below the threshold.

Pay As You Earn (PAYE)

PAYE is a method of collecting income tax in advance. This method is applicable to individuals who earn
their income from employment and it is deducted and remitted to MRA by employers. Deduction is made
before an employee gets his or her pay.

Advantages of PAYE
To taxpayers

 It is convenient to pay while money is available

 It is easy and cost effective to pay e.g. the taxpayer does not have to spend time, money and other
resources to travel to MRA to pay their tax.
 Affords the taxpayer to settle their tax liability by instalments other than paying the whole amount at
once.

To tax authorities

 Provides constant flow of revenue

 Easy and cost effective to collect
 Discourages and checks tax invasion as deduction is made before the money gets into the hands
of the employee.

Registration for PAYE

Every employer who engages the services of an employee who is to be paid an amount of money that is
liable to PAYE is required to apply for registration.

Taxable income is determined by the following:

 Gross income: the total in cash or any capital gain received by a person within or deemed to be
within Malawi. Gross income includes monthly or annual salaries, bonuses, commissions, overtime
and gratuities received in the course of employment, leave grant, pension and cash allowances.
 Assessable income: this includes from gross income any amounts that are exempted from tax.
Some of the exemptions include: salaries and payments of the president and vice president
 respectively; allowances paid to members of parliament; up to K50, 000 of any amount paid by an
employee who has been declared redundant, not being notice pay or commutation of leave.
 Taxable income: this is the income to which tax is applied after deducting allowable deductions, if
any, from the assessable income as provided in the taxation Act. Some of the allowable deductions
include:
 Professional subscriptions
 Individual donations of not less than K250 to any approved charitable organisation

Currently PAYE is calculated receives a gross salary of K180, 000 per month, PAYE will be calculated as
follows:

Withholding Tax
This is amount of tax retained by one person when making payments to another person in respect of goods
supplied or services rendered by the payee. Withholding tax applies to specific payments including
payment that is to be included in calculating the changeable income of an employee, payment, rent or
royalty, payment in respect to service fee, contract payments and payment in respect to supply of goods to
the government and its institutions.

Categories of withholding taxes

 Final withholding taxes: taxes in which the withholder cannot claim any tax credit when
calculating the income tax payable for a year of income.
 Non-final withholding taxes: taxes in which the withholder is entitled for a tax credit an amount
equal to the tax treated as paid for the year of income in which the amount is derived.

Withholding tax operators are required to:

 Issue the person from whose payment is deducted with a photocopy (copy B) of the certificate
 Remix tax to MRA within days from the end of the month during which deduction was made
together with the original copy (copy A) of the certificate
 Retain copy C and keep as record

Conditions for granting withholding tax exempt certificate

 Timely filing of a current tax year return
 Filing of all returns due by the applicant
 Paying of all forms of taxes due
 Auditing a taxpayer may be a prerequisite if the authority finds it necessary
 Compliance by the taxpayer with any special or general directions or fulfilment of any conditions
which the commissioner General considers necessary to give or impose having regard to the
circumstances of the application
Any person who is eligible for the operation of withholding tax is required to apply for registration to MRA.
After receiving the application, it is allocated a scheme number.

Corporate tax

This is a tax placed on the taxable profits of a firm. Corporate taxes are levied against profits earned by
business during a given taxable period. It applies generally to companies operating earnings after
expenses such as cost of goods and capital allowance have been deducted from revenues. The rate of
corporate tax in Malawi is at 30% of the taxable income.

Turnover tax

Turnover tax is a simple tax on the gross income of small business. Businesses that pay turnover tax are
exempt from VAT. Turnover tax rate is very low (calculated as 2% in Malawi) compared to most taxes, but it
is calculated on gross income.

Customs duties

These are taxes levied on imports and sometimes on exports by the customs authorities to raise revenue or
to protect domestic industries from more efficient or predatory competitions from abroad. Customs duty is
based on the value of goods or weight, dimension, usage or other criteria (such as engine size and year of
make in the case of cars). The rates of duties on different goods are stated in a book known as Customs
and Excise Tariff.

Anti-dumping Duty

This is a protectionist that a government imposes on foreign imports that it believes are priced below fair
market value. A foreign company may sell an item significantly below the price at which it is being produced
in the source country. This may be done to drive domestic competitors out of business and later raised the
prices or it may be a means to clear surplus stocks. The importing country can decide that the exporter is
guilty of dumping and impose an anti-dumping duty. Anti-dumping duties are believed to distort the market
because the government cannot determine what constitutes a fair market price for any good or services.
Fair market value is whatever price the market will bear as determined by supply and demand.
 TOPIC 4: EMPLOYMENT
Pension
This is a regular payment made during a person’s retirement or to the person’s surviving dependents from
an investment fund to which that person or their employer has contributed during the person’s working life.
This is paid in consideration of past services, age, merit, poverty, injury, or loss sustained, such as a
retirement pension.

Pension scheme is a way of saving for retirement so that you have income after you stop working or to
provide an income for the dependents if the member dies. A recipient of a retirement pension is known as a
pensioner or retiree.

Typical features of a pension include:

 It has an element of service or work including self-employment

 It involves retirement from service through any of the fragilities (lack of physical or emotional
strength) such as being too old or too ill/sick and death.
 It follows the given conditions
 It is a regular payment

Types of pension schemes

a. State pension: this refers to regular payment made by the state to people over a certain age to
enable them to subsist without having to work.
b. Work place (occupational) pension or retirement plan: refers to a regular payment made by an
employer to former employees after they retire.
c. Personal pension plan: refers to a regular payment to a retired person as a result of his or her
contributions to a personal scheme.

A pension plan is a method in which an employee transfers part of his or her income stream towards
retirement income. They are classified into three types; defined contribution, defined benefit and hybrid
schemes. Pension fund is the collection of funds being saved for retirement. The contributions are invested
by asset managers in any stock markets, real estates and money markets.

1. Defined Contribution (DC) plan or money purchase plan

It is a plan in which a member receives, at retirement, the pension that can be bought through the company
based on the value of the contributions the employee (if required by the plan) and the employer made with
the interest. The member and employer contribution rates are fixed as a percentage of salary and the
accumulated contributions are increased with interest to the date of retirement. In Malawi the employer is
obliged to pay 10% of an employee’s salary and employee pays 5%. It provides a means for both
employees and employers to contribute a steady stream of revenue into the participant’s retirement
account and allow the participant to invest in equities, bonds, real estate and other types of asset classes
potentially to earn additional income. DC plans generally allow participant-directed investments and vest
sooner than Defined Benefit plans and the benefits are also portable (transferable). Each participant has an
individual, separate account. At retirement, the employee either receives a lump sum or an annuity, the size
of which depends upon the accumulated value of the funds in the retirement account. The employee thus
bears all of the investment risk.

In summary, a defined contribution plan;

 Contributions are guaranteed but retirement income is not

 Usually both employee and employer contribute to the plan. The employer may match some of the
contributions the employee makes
 The employee is responsible for investing all contributions to grow the saving
 The amount available for retirement depends on the total contributions made to the account and
the investment returns this money earned.
 At retirement, the money in the account is used to generate retirement income by buying an
annuity from an insurance company or by transferring the savings to a locked-in retirement income
fund.
2. Defined Benefit (DB) plan

In this, employers provide employees a specific retirement benefit based on salary, age and years of
service. It promises to pay members a certain fixed monthly benefit/amount of retirement income for life. It
provides guaranteed income security to workers. Pension amount/benefit entitlement is based on a formula
which takes into account a member’s level of earnings (wages salary history) towards retirement and length
of pensionable service (years of services) as well as predetermined accrual rate such as 2% for instance.

Sample formula of DB plan-accrual rate x average salary in the past 5 years x number of years of being a
plan member

Average salary K 600, 000 per annum/K 50, 000 per month
Benefit percentage/accrual rate 2%
Year of plan membership 30
Formula calculation K 600, 000x2%x30
Annual/monthly pension K360, 000 per annum/K30, 000 per month

DB plans can be funded by employer contributions, or require employee contributions. The member
contributions are fixed while an employer contribution fluctuates. The employer is responsible to invest the
contributions to ensure there is enough money for all members as well as increase efficiency and remove
financial risk for the participant. DB funds are more advantageous to employees who spend many years
working for a single employer and most governments prefer DB funds. The reason is the employer’s
yearning to retain employees who have acquired valuable skills by designing DB funds to provide generous
benefits to such long term serving employees. These plans provide a stream of income for life which makes
it predictable and allows for participants to plan for retirement and feel a sense of financial security.

In summary, a defined pension scheme

 Promises to pay the member a certain amount of retirement income for life
 The amount of pension is based on a formula that usually takes into account member’s earnings
and years of service with the employer
 In most plans, both employee and the employer contribute
 Your employer is responsible for investing the contributions to ensure there’s enough money to pay
the future pensions for all plan members.
 If there’s a shortfall in the money needed, the employer must pay the difference
3. Hybrid pension scheme

This pension scheme has characteristics of both Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit plans. In this
scheme investment and other risks are shared between the employer and employees.

Differences between Defined Benefit and Defined Contribution Pension Schemes

Defined Benefit Scheme Defined Contribution Scheme

Retirement benefits are based on a formula that Retirement pension is unknown. Accumulated
takes period of service and salary history into employees and employer contributions plus
account investment income is used to purchase pension
Employee contribution rate is fixed while employer Both employee and employers contribution are fixed
contribution rate is variable
An employer carries investment risk An employee carries investment risk
Valuation of liabilities by an actuary is needed No actuarial valuation needed. Only annual bonus
allocation is used to get the value of pension funds
Withdraw benefits are not attractive Withdraw benefits are attractive

 Employees attracted and most benefited

Defined benefit attracts and benefits longer tenure and older employees. While defined contribution attracts
and benefits shorter tenure and younger employees.

 Job tenure patterns encouraged

Defined benefit encourages longer tenure because employees receive greatest benefit accruals at end of
long-time service. This may lock people into jobs they would otherwise leave. On the other hand defined
contribution, although employees receive benefits based on salary, not tenure, may encourage employees
to change jobs in order to receive access to lump-sum distribution from retirement accounts.

 Influence on retirement patterns

Defined benefit can be designed to encourage early retirement; may financially penalise workers for
working additional years beyond the normal retirement age. This may force workers who would not
otherwise retire to do so. While, defined contribution cannot be designed to encourage early retirement but
instead rewards employees for working additional years.

 Plan termination benefits

In defined benefit, termination benefits are usually small for employees with less job tenure and are costly if
plan is under-funded. While defined contribution termination benefits are equal to account balances, and
when vested, based on both salary and years of plan participation. They tend to be larger than those for
defined benefit plans. Plan termination is not applicable, because defined contribution plans are by
definition never under-funded.

 Administrative costs

In defined benefit, the managing of a large pool of funds is less expensive than managing individual
accounts, but may be more expensive because of the provision of annuities and there is need for
professional actuarial and investment advice to ensure compliance with regulations. But the large pooled
assets reduce asset management and miscellaneous fees. In defined contribution, while actuarial services
are not required to the extent necessary for defined benefit plans, the provision of participant investment
education and the cost of administering many individual funds for loans, hardship and retirement benefits
may make defined contribution plans more expensive, except for smaller employers. A defined contribution
savings plan does not have the pooled investments, professional asset managers and shared
administrative costs that a defined benefit pension plan provides.

 Investment and inflations risks given to participants

In defined benefit, employer absorbs investment risk in exchange for investment control. The employer is
responsible for pre-retirement risk (funding, investment, inflationary and longevity risks). While in defined
contribution, employees absorb investment risk in exchange for potential investment rewards. A defined
contribution savings plan shifts all responsibilities and all of the risk from the employer to employee; as the
benefit is not guaranteed for life. The employees assume risk for inflation both prior to and after retirement
as well as all funding and investment fees.

 Opportunities given to participants (access)

In defined benefit, no pre-retirement access to accounts is usually provided. While in defined contribution
pre-retirement access to accounts is often provided.

 Benefit provided at retirement

In defined benefit, benefits are usually paid in the form of life annuities and include survivor and disability
benefits.
While in defined contribution, benefits are usually paid in the form of lump-sum distributions, with which the
employee may spend as they please. The benefit ceases when individual account is exhausted. There are
usually no survivor or disability benefits and guarantees. Employee benefit is based upon individual
investment earnings.

Necessary procedures in defined contribution schemes

1. Either, an individual alone, or an employee and employer make contributions into the plan, usually
based on a percentage of the employee’s annual earnings or just an amount in Malawi kwacha.
The employer makes a contribution based on a formula, which may or may not require the
employee to make some type of matching contribution. If membership of the scheme is through the
workplace then employer usually deducts employee contribution from his/her salary before it is
taxed.
2. Each participant has an individual, separate account to which contributions are allocated.
3. While a member is working; the fund is usually invested in stocks and shares, along with other
investments, with the aim of growing it over the years before he/she retires
4. Normally, when the employee retires they can take some of the pension as a cash lump sum and
then convert the rest into a retirement income. The amount of income employees depend on;
employees contributions into the fund, length of saving period, investment returns, administration
fees/charges taken out of the fund, total cash lump sum, annuity rates and the type of retirement
income chosen.

Importance of pension schemes

 Pension plans serve as a means of financial stability and security after retirement and provide a
regular income to member on retirement. It is an insurance plan providing financial coverage for
your old age
 When people come to retire they experience a reduction in income. A pension income makes up
for some of this loss of income in retirement so that they are able to live comfortably and not to
have to worry about financial problems as well as to maintain the same standard of living after
retirement.
 Pension schemes can provide protection in the form of lump sum and pensions to dependants in
the event of death of a member of a pension scheme. In the event of a member’s death, his/her
spouse receives a pension or other benefits.
 Contributions made to a pension plan by both the employer and employees are tax deductible. So
pension is also a source of government revenue.
 Pension funds pools retirement savings which provides employee with an opportunity to participate
in large investments. Investment incomes generated by the pension fund lead to infrastructure
development in a country.
 Pension fund relieves pressure on government social services and cash transfers by taking care of
the elderly people who can fend for themselves after retirement.
  The benefits accumulated in a plan are protected and cannot be seized even if the business goes
bankrupt.
 A reasonable and equitable pension arrangement tends to reduce turnover of personnel at all
levels. By removing a natural anxiety, the pension scheme helps to maintain the happiness and
contentment of the staff. In turn, this probably means a more healthy staff and greater productivity.

Transferring pension benefits/transferring a pension scheme

A pension transfer takes place when a member of a pension scheme (pension pot) transfers his or her
accrued pension rights (switching pension plans; moving the value of your contributions) from one scheme
to another. This ends the agreement with the original pension plan but there is a need to check if the
schemes you wish to transfer to will accept the transfer pension switches and transfers. Employees are free
to transfer their benefits to a fund of their choice, including unrestricted funds. In other words, if an
employee believes for instance that a certain pension fund is not providing enough benefits, he/she can
instruct the trustee to transfer the accumulated benefits to a fund of his/her choice. But the employee bears
the cost of such transfers.

Reasons why a member would want to transfer their pension benefits to a different pension scheme

 If the pension scheme is being closed or wound up

 If the member wants to transfer to a better pension scheme. The member may be disappointed
with the current pension or pension charges may be too high
 If a member have pensions from more than one employer and wants to bring them together in one
pension scheme. He/she wants to organise multiple pension plans.
 If the member is going to live overseas and wants to move his/her pension to a scheme in that
country
 This could be due to a divorce where the funds are being reallocated to another scheme
 Financial planning reasons.
 A member leaving the employment of an employer. When a member has left service of an
employer, in which case benefit may only be transferred to another pension fund. There are a
variety of options available for such members such as;
 Preserved pension – this is where the pension fund remains where it is.
 Refund of contributions – only available to members with less than 2 years qualifying
service
 Vest benefits – only available if the member is over the age of 50 or satisfies the ill health
conditions or has a protected early pension age.
 Transfer to an alternative pension scheme

Conditions to consider when transferring pensions

1. Where you can transfer your pension pot to
You can transfer your pension pot to another registered pension scheme or to a non Malawian pension
scheme that is a qualifying recognised overseas pension scheme. Using your pension pot to buy a deferred
annuity contract is also an accepted transfer. A transfer from one registered pension scheme to another
registered pension scheme is known as a recognised transfer and therefore acceptable. While, transfer
from a registered pension scheme to a non-registered pension scheme not a recognised transfer and
therefore is an unauthorised payment

2. Transferring pensions in payment

You can transfer your pension pot if it is already paying a pension. For example, this might happen
because your employer is reorganising their company pension schemes. The transfer must be on ‘like for
like’ basis-so the type of pension you get after the transfer must be the same type of pension you were
getting before the transfer. In these circumstances you must transfer all of the pension pot that is being
used to pay your pension. If your transfer does not meet these conditions the transfer payment will be an
unauthorised payment.

Conditions for accessing/release of pension benefits

1. A member reaches retirement age of 50. Pension fund rules to determine the retirement age.
Unless ones retirement is due to ill-health, the retirement age bracket to access accumulated
pension funds is between 50 and 70 years.
2. A member has retired on basis of years of service which is 20 years working for the same
employer.
3. A member is totally and permanently disabled or ha s a terminal illness. The member is
incapacitated as certified by a medical practitioner registered with the medical council of Malawi.
4. A member has left or is about to leave Malawi permanently. He/she gets 40 percent of the amount
payable on the grant of the application. The balance is paid out after 12 months from the day of the
first payment only if the trustee is satisfied that the member has left Malawi permanently.
5. A member is dead. Pension or superannuation savings can also be paid out on the death of the
member. Death benefits are payable as directed in the nomination.
6. The member has permanently left the service of employer. Where the benefits may only be paid
out for transfer to another pension fund or a member has been given permission by the registrar to
a withdraw benefit.
7. Where the member has permanently left the service of the employer, for whatever reason and the
member has not secured another employment for a period of more than 6 months. In this case an
employee may be paid his/her own pension contributions plus interest or bonuses.

Provisions of the Pension Act (2011)

Pension Act 6 of 2011 passed to resolved two important application problems. The first problem was the
double fiscal burden on employers, who operated voluntary pension schemes for their workers and were
required to pay severance allowance as well as pension benefits upon the termination of employment. The
second problem was the widespread income insecurity (social protection risks) on retirement for the
majority of Malawians. So, one of the pension’s reform objectives is to address the growing fiscal burden on
employers running pensions. Benefit entitlement arising from retirement, death or incapacitation are
governed by the Pension Act while severance allowance is only payable on termination of employment due
to economic or operational restructuring and unfair dismissal in terms of the Employment Act as amended.
Reforming pension was also done to improve social security by increasing pension coverage and benefits
working Malawians. The other objective was to strengthen supervision, regulation and governance pension
systems in Malawi and improve taxation.

Objectives of Section 4 of the Pension Act, 2011

a. Ensure that every employer to which this Act applies provides pension for every person employed
by that employer
b. Ensure that every employee in Malawi receives retirement and supplementary benefits as and
when due.
c. Promote the safety, soundness and prudent management of pension funds that provide retirement
and death benefits to members and beneficiaries.
d. Foster agglomeration of national savings in support of economic growth and development of the
country.

Key provision of the Pension Act (2011)

 Establishing a national pension scheme comprising of a national Pension Fund and other
private pension funds licensed under the Act (section 6)

The purpose is to ensure that every employee in Malawi receives pension and supplementary benefits on
retirement. Every employer is compelled to ensure that every employee becomes a member of the national
Pension Scheme by having a membership in an occupational pension fund or a national pension fund.

 Creating a mandatory pension scheme (section 9-15)

The act requires that every employer must make provision for every employee to be a member of National
Pension Scheme and there are penalties for failure to comply. It applies to all employees in Malawi. On
termination of employment the employee must be given gratuity. The mandatory pension in Malawi
provides income security for employees who leave employees who leave employment.

 Prescribes minimum contributions rates (section 12)

The minimum contribution for employers is 10% and 5% for employees of pensionable emoluments.
Employees and employers can opt or agree to contribute more than the minimum. Employers may
contribute their portion as well as the employees’ portion (on behalf of the employees) so long as the
contribution is not less than the total minimum. The Act allows for voluntary contribution in addition to the
total contribution provided it is within the threshold. It is also requires that contributions are remitted within
14 days or else employers face penalties. Contribution arrears for organisations that do not remit
contributions to pension fund need to remit within six months.

 Outlines conditions for accessing pension benefits (section 64, 65 and 69)

These conditions include when a member reaches retirement age of 50, retires on basis of years of 20
years working for the same employer or when a member is totally and permanently disabled as certified by
a medical practitioner registered with the Medical Council of Malawi. It may also be when a member has
died such that death benefits have to be paid to the financial dependents of the deceased. It is paid when a
member has left service of an employer and has been given permission by the registrar to a withdrawal
benefit or whatever reason and the member has not secured another employment for a period of more than
six months.

 Outlines conditions for paying death benefits (section 70 and 71)

Death benefits are payable as directed in the nomination if is a valid nomination. Where the nomination is
invalid or made under duress, the death benefits shall be paid in such proportions as determined by the
trustee to persons determined by the trustee to be persons who were financially dependent on the member
at the time of the member’s death.

 Preservation and portability provision

The registrar can allow the member, who has permanently left the services of an employer for a withdrawal
benefit if member has not been re-employed for a period of more than 6 months and benefits payable are
limited to member contributions plus any investments income from such contributions. Principles of
preservation include restricting pension benefit access to given conditions and closely connected to income
replacement ratio. Principles of portability include transferability of pension funds, flexibility of pension
system and enhance performance – need to control risk taking to avoid potential losses to members in
terms of investment limits and legal liability for losses. The act allows for transferability of pension benefits
on the conditions that is done at least once in every two years: no need to give reasons; cost of transfer on
the employee and employer to only bear cost for administration and the employer would have paid in the
employer’s arrangement.

 Mandatory life insurance

Section 15 mandates the employer to maintain a life insurance policy in favour of every employee. It
obliges an employer to provide a life insurance cover of one times the annual pensionable emoluments of
the employee

 Nomination of beneficiaries under section 70

Beneficially nomination is binding on the fund provided that:

1. It must be addressed to the trustee.

 2. It must entrust payment of benefits to: widow or widower, member ‘s child, member’s close
relations i.e. spouse, brother, sister, parent, child, child of spouse, aunt, uncle, grandparent
and the spouse of any of these.
3. It must be in writing.
4. It must be signed by the member.
5. It must set out amounts and proportions to be paid to be paid out.
6. It must be current( left to fund rules to define current)
7. Amendment to nomination allowed as per fund rules.
8. A nomination shall be revoked by divorce or later marriage of the member.
9. Automatic revocation by divorce or later marriage
 Creates rights for members

A member has a right to fund information which is defined to include fund investment strategy, investment
performance, and financial position, fees and charges payable by fund members, life and entitlements of
members or beneficiaries under fund rules, obligations of member to pay contributions and obligations of
employer to pay contributions, request the information about the fund or his entitlement in the fund.

 Requires registration and licensing of all pension schemes, umbrella funds and trustees by
the registrar (section 16-19)

Pension act promotes defined contribution funds as opposed to defined benefit funds. This is due to the
following reasons: a prescription of minimum contribution to be paid into the fund; the ease of portability of
benefits, the legislative establishment of individual accounts and the provision of tax incentives to
employees.

Rights and responsibilities of pension beneficiaries

a) Rights and entitlements of members or beneficiaries under funds rules
b) Fund information which is defined to improve:
Fund investment strategy, investment performance and financial positions, fees and changes
payable by fund members
c) Obligations of members and employers to pay contributions.
d) Request information about the fund or member entitlement in the fund.
e) Accessing meaningful, accurate and complete information and demonstrably written in a manner
that enhances member understanding of the pension scheme. Such information includes deferent
types of plans, information about a plan when and how to receive retirement, what to do if you have
a question or find mistake, responsibilities of those who manage the plan and its investments.
f) Nominate beneficiaries for his/her death benefits. This includes directing the trustees on the
payment of the benefits, setting out the amounts, amending and revoking nomination by written
notice to trustees.
 g) Transfer benefits to an approved unrestricted fund. It should grant members leaving the scheme
before benefit has become payable, a full portability of the accrued retirement benefit at the time
the member leaves the scheme.
h) Communication on annual member statement and staff presentation by trustees or administrators.
i) Make an inquiry into or a complaint about the operation or management of the fund in relation to
him/her.
j) Loge complaint with the pension fund if an employer deducts contributions but does not pay the
money over to the fund or to administrator of the fund.
k) Have a valid copy of the rules of the fund which sets out the rights and obligations of the members.
l) Receive a pension upon retirement.
m) Have pension benefits protected from any attachment or execution. So pension benefits cannot be
used as collateral or as security in case of bankrupt or any other form of default.
n) Have recalls to grievance or institute legal proceedings against a manager contravening the act,
pension plan rule or regulations so as to protect his contribution under a pension scheme.
o) Be protected by the manager of the pension scheme by reporting to the registrar of any
occurrences which in the manager’s view could affect the rights of the member under the pension
plan or under the act.

Responsibilities of pension beneficiaries

1. Obligations of a member to pay contributions whether the minimum pension contribution of 5
percent or that agreed with the employer.
2. Request information about the fund or his entitlement in the fund such as tax deductions from the
contributions if the person scheme is registered or accessed or not, fund rules and their
amendments. You can also request an annual benefit statement from the employer to check if
monthly deductions were properly made and paid over to the fund.
3. To understand and monitor pension plan.
4. Apply to switch or transfer pension benefits from one pension fund to another, registered un
restricted fund when he/she stops working for employer or fails to secure a job within 6 months.
5. Provide scheme with accurate personal details and those of his/her beneficiaries.
 TOPIC 5: DEVELOPMENT
Importance of development
 Increases the availability and widen the distribution of basic life-sustaining goods and services
such as food, clothing, education, health and protection.
 It feels people from a life of dependency for basic things and widens a range of social and
economic choices for them. This helps to prevent people from slipping into conditions of servitude
or slavery due to lack of better economic and social choices.
 It helps to enhance the material well-being of people to generate greater individual and national
self esteem. Development brings about material prosperity which in turn cultivates a positive self-
image for the individual citizens and the nation as a whole.
 It improves the living standards of people through higher incomes, creation of employment
opportunities and better social services.
 It provides the necessary conditions for the improvement in the quality of life.

Aspects of development
1. Political development
2. Social development
3. Economic development
4. Technological development

Political development
Politics is the art or science of running government or state affairs. It is concerned with the exercise of
control, power and authority over a given social group such as a community or society particularly a state.

Political development is the improvement in the institutions, attitudes and values that form the political
power system of the society. It includes attributes of constitutional order and political stability attained
through the formation of a settled framework of government, reliable procedures for leadership succession
and a consolidation of a territorial administrative reach of government institutions. It enhances the capacity
of the state to mobilise and allocate resources, to process policy inputs into implementable outputs and to
peacefully resolve conflicts.

Indicators of political development

 Effective political institutions: a society that is politically developed has effective political
institutions such as parliament and political parties. Political parties, particularly those in the
opposition check on the activities of the ruling parties to make sure that there is no abuse of power.
Effectiveness and independence of other institutions such as Human Rights Commission, the Law
 Commission and the Anti-Corruption Bureau in carrying out their lawful functions is also an
important indication of political development.
 Frequent parliamentary sessions: in politically developed societies, parliament conducts its
meetings frequently to regularly provide representation to people and to check on the activities of
the executive arm of government. Lack of regular meetings of parliament creates a situation in
which a government may pursue policies without adequate consultation with the electorate through
their members of parliament.
 Political awareness: citizens are only effectively represented if they are able to articulate their
policy preferences; discriminate between political parties and their ideologies and programs and
are able to select the party mostly likely to implement their desired preferences. In politically
developed societies, citizens are able to follow political developments and make choice of political
parties based on their knowledge of the policy differences, ideologies and programs.
 Tolerance: in politically developed societies, all citizens including political leaders practice
tolerance in their words and action. Opposition political parties and civil society groups are allowed
to organise themselves and speak out on governance and other issues. Dissenting views are
respected by leaders and government is able to change its policies and laws as long as there is
merit in their arguments of those against them. Those who want to stage a protest against certain
actions of government are allowed to do so. Lack of political tolerance presents a threat to
democracy and creates a closed society which narrows citizens’ perception of politics.
 Ability to choose own leaders: when people are able to choose leaders, evaluate their
performance and if not satisfied, peacefully remove them from office through regular free and fair
elections, it is an indication of political development. Elections need to be free of violence,
intimidation and corruption in order to reflect political maturity. It is only realization that leaders are
elected and removed from office that people can demand servant leadership from those leading
them. If leaders can cling to powers as long as they want through fraudulent elections, it is an
indication of lack of political development.
 Ability to criticise leaders: in political developed societies, citizens are free to criticize their
leaders without the risk of being persecuted through arrests, death threats and other things.
Leaders are willing to learn from any constructive criticism in order to perfect their leadership skills
so as to serve their people better. When leaders are intolerant to critical ideas and views, it is a
sign of lack of political maturity and also a threat to democracy.
 Prevention of abuse of powers: in politically developed countries, proper mechanisms are put in
place to check and prevent abuse of power by officials. There is a system of checks and balances
between the different branches of government and the leaders are held to account for their actions
by making sure that they are not immune from persecution for abusing or misusing their power
through corruption, theft, violence and other things. The extent to which abuse of power is
prevented has a bearing on the level of a country’s political development.
 Respect for and protection of human rights: issues of citizens’ participation in any democratic
process such as elections, access to participation on politics, holding leaders accountable and
 other values are inherently embedded in human rights. Respecting and protecting human rights of
citizens is therefore one of the important indicators of political development.
Respect for the rule of law: in politically developed, leaders and the rest the citizens respect
the rule of law: If a leader or any government official begins to violet the laws and defiles the
decisions of the court, it is a sign of lack of political development.
 Multiparty system: this is a system in which a country has more than one political party operating
and participating in elections. When more than one political party is legally allowed to operate and
citizens are given the right to form new political parties, it is an indication of political development.
At the dawn of independence, in 1960s most African countries including Malawi adopted one party
system of government which resulted in the development of dictatorship due to absence of
opposition parties to check on the activities of the ruling party. The adoption of multiparty system of
government by most African countries starting from the early 1990s is an indication of political
maturity.
 Transparency and accountability: this is a requirement that leaders must be open, frank and
honest in their actions and that they should be responsible for their actions as well as being able to
explain, clarify and justify their decisions and what they do. In politically developed society
government officials make decisions and conduct their duties openly and according to the law and
they are held accountable for their actions.

Effects of political development

1. Citizens are able to organize and promote their own legal interests without the interference of
government. This is evidenced by the formation of various civil society groups as well as many
cultural and religious institutions that operate completely independent of the government.
2. Increased awareness of people in political affairs affecting them. For democracy to work, it needs
not just an engaged citizenry but also an informed one. Political development makes citizens stay
informed about important issues affecting local communities and the entire nation. This awareness
enables citizens to influence the way in which they are governed and ensure that leaders do not
abuse their power by holding them accountable for their actions.
3. Increased citizens' participation in protecting the rights of those holding minority view points.
Political development helps citizens to realize that much as one of the most fundamental ideals of
democracy is that the majority opinion should be followed, the majority should be listened to and
not be oppressed as a consequence of majority rule. This realization increases their participation in
the protection of the rights of the minority.
4. Increased citizens' participation in development work. Political development leads to increased
citizens' awareness about their development rights and responsibilities. This motivates them to
increase their participation in both local and national development projects.
5. Increased citizens' participation in election. Political development leads to increased awareness
about the importance of elections, leading to increased participation of citizens in presidential,
parliamentary and local government elections as either candidates or voters. Elections help to give
legitimacy to those who become leaders.
Social development
This refers to the general improvement in the well-being of people in the society. This involves improving
social services such as health care, education and social infrastructures to create better transport and
communication systems to ease access to social services.

Indicators of social development

 Low infant mortality rate: infant mortality rate measures the number of children who die before
they reach the age of one for every one thousand live births per year. The lower infant mortality
rate shows that the country is more socially developed and the higher infant mortality rate shows
that the country is less socially developed.
 High life expectancy: life expectancy is the average number of years a person born in a given
country can expect to live. It is a used measure to describe population health. This can be affected
by factors such as wars, natural disasters and disease. The higher the life expectancy the more
socially developed the country.
 High adult literacy rate: adult literacy rate is the percentage of the adult population aged 15 and
above that is able to read and write. A high adult literacy rate is an indication of social
development. Low levels of literacy can impede the development of a country in the current rapidly
changing technology driven world.
 Low maternity mortality rate: maternal mortality rate is the number of women who die during
pregnancy or childbirth in a population expressed per 100, 000 live births. Reduced maternity
mortality is an indication of social development. This can be done through having stronger
healthcare infrastructure, medical and healthcare personnel, use more advanced medical
technologies and have fewer barriers to accessing care.
 Infrastructure: this refers to the basic structures that support a society such as roads, bridges, rail
lines, water and power plants, sewers, telecommunications, building such as schools, hospitals,
and others. Infrastructure facilitates the production and distribution of goods and services and also
improves people’s living conditions. Good infrastructure is essential for the improvement in the
quality of life and is an indicator of social and economic development.
 Access to safe drinking water: the proportion of people using improved drinking water sources
such as protected dug water, public standpipe and borehole may also determine the level of a
country’s social development.
 Access to sanitation facilities: in a socially developed society people have to sanitation facilities.
These help to prevent human, animal and insect contact with excreta. Improved facilities range
from simple but protected pit latrines to flash toilets with sewerage connection.

Social development initiatives in the community

Social development initiatives need to be community driven in order to achieve sustainability. Communities
can identify their social development needs and embark on self-help projects to improve their standard of
living. Communities may embark on projects such as construction of a bridge, a school, a market, a clinic,
and other social services. Communities may contribute money to meet certain costs or they may seek
financial and technical assistance from the government or non-governmental organisations. Community
involvement in any social development initiatives helps to ensure that projects are tailored to specific needs
of local people and also promotes a sense of ownership among the beneficiaries. Imposing a project on the
local community leads to wastage of resources as it may not address the needs of the people who are
supposed to benefit.

Impact of social development initiatives on the lives of people in the community and
nation
 Raising people’s standard of living. Social development initiatives help to improve the well-being of
people through provision of better healthcare, education, security, sanitation, clean water social
amenities.
 Participation of people in social development initiatives help to instill a sense of empowerment and
ownership. People feel empowered to charge of development projects at the local level and
become more responsible for care and maintenance. Eventually, projects are more sustainable
and serve the local communities for a longer period of time.
 Participation in social development initiatives helps people to acquire important skills such as
resource mobilisation, leadership, negotiation, consultation and decision making skills.
 Local social development initiatives helps to relieve pressure on government resources as most of
the work is done by the local people without the financial support from the government.
 People’s participation in local social development initiatives leads to the development of a strong
civil society. A strong civil society is critical for the promotion of democratic values and the
transformation of society through people centred approaches.

Economic development
Economic development is the growth or expansion of economic wealth of a country, region or community
coupled by improved quality of life, decreased inequality and the creation of more economic and social
choices for people. It also referred to as the quantitative and qualitative changes in the economy. It includes
the development of human capital, critical infrastructure, regional competitiveness, environmental
sustainability, social inclusion, health, safety, literacy and other things.

Differences between economic growth and economic development

Economic growth refers to the increase (or growth) of a specific measure such as real national income.
National income or product is commonly expressed in terms of a measure of the aggregate value-added
output of the domestic economy called gross domestic product (GDP). When the GDP of a country rises,
economists refer to it as economic growth. Economic development is indicated by such factors as literacy
rate, life expectancy and income distribution.
The following table summarizes the differences between economic growth and economic development

Economic growth Economic development

Brings quantitative changes in the economy Brings qualitative and quantitative changes in the
economy
Concerned with increase in the economy’s output i.e. Concerned with income distribution, reduced inequality,
increase in the country’s GDP improved quality of life, more social and economic
choices etc.
Does not take into account the depletion of natural Concerned with sustainability, which means meeting the
resources which might lead to pollution, congestion and needs of the present without compromising future needs.
disease.

Two major factors that contribute to economic growth

 An increase in natural resources, labour and capital

 An increase in the efficiency with which the resources are used through advanced in technology,
improved labour skills and improved organisation.

Indicators of economic development

 Growth or increase in Gross National Product (GNP) and Gross Domestic Product (GDP):
GNP is the value of total output, in US Dollars, produced by citizens of a country from the means of
production located within the country and abroad calculates over a period of one year. It excludes
the value of goods and services produced by foreigners within the domestic economy. GDP is the
value of total output, in US Dollars, produced within the country by both nationals and foreigners
calculated over a period of one year. It excludes the value of goods and services produced by
nationals from investments abroad. GNP and GDP measure both the size and direction of
economic activities. Growth in GDP and GNP shows that economy is growing and an indicator for
economic development.
Economic growth and GDP: GDP includes all of private and public consumption, government
outlays, investments and exports minus imports that occur within a defined territory.

GDP=C+G+I+NX
Where:
C= all private consumption or consumer spending in the national economy
G= sum of government spending
I= investments
NX= country’s total net exports, calculated as total exports minus total imports

Economic growth rate and GDP: Economic growth rate is a measure of economic growth from one
period to another, in percentage terms. It is a measure of the rate of change that a country’s gross
domestic product goes through from one year to another.
  Increase in GDP per capita and GNP per capita: the GDP per capita is the average income of
citizens from the national wealth calculated by dividing the total GNP of a country by the total
population. When GDP per capita and GNP per capita are high, more people are less likely to slip
into absolutely poverty. In other words, the more the money each individual is potentially able to
access the higher the potential standard of living. GDP per capita and GNP per capita are affected
by the size of population.
 Improvement in the standard of living: standard of living refers to a level of material comfort as
measured by the goods, services and luxuries available to people in a particular community or
country. It is defined in the real income per person and cost of living, access and quality of
healthcare, standards of education, quality of employment, average life expectancy, safety and
environmental quality. Reduction in infant and maternal mortality rates can also signify
improvement in the standard of living.
 Good infrastructure: countries that are economically developed have good and high quality
roads, bridges, rail lines, schools, banks, insurance companies, hospitals, water plants, power
plants, sewers, and others. Infrastructure facilitates the production and distribution of goods and
services and also improves people’s living conditions. Good infrastructure is the essential for the
improvement in the quality of life.
 Good transport system: transport facilitates the movement of goods and services as well as
people to different places. An efficient and effective transport system is essential for any country to
achieve meaningful socio-economic development. Economically developed countries have the
financial resources to easily modernize their transport systems so that goods and services can
move faster. Poor transport system shows lack of economic development.
 Good communication system: communication helps to link business and customers thereby
keeping the economy active. A vibrant economy leads to modernisation of the communication
system as business need new and modern ways of keeping in touch with their customers.
 Human Development Index (HDI): this is a statistical measure used to gauge a country’s level of
human development. HDI was developed to create more human alternative to GDP. Whereas GDP
measures economic output, HDI measures the well-being of citizens. It combines income,
education and healthcare indicators to measure a country’s economic well-being. Countries having
the highest HDI score are considered to be highly economic developed.

Factors that contribute to economic development

 Availability of resources: financial and non-financial resources are essential for the economic
development of any country. A country that is endowed with abundant natural resources such as
minerals, rivers and lakes, forests, wild animals, fertile soil, mountains and others stands a better
opportunity to achieve economic development if they are properly utilized. Financial resources are
needed to finance public services and technologies that can help to improve the quality of life and
achieve meaningful economic development.
 Human capital: countries that invest in health, education and training of their people will have a
more valuable workforce that produces more goods and services. An educated workforce brings
 value in terms of knowledge and innovation to the country’s economy as it is more likely to
contribute to technological advances and be better able to find more appropriate uses of natural
resources for maximum benefits. Investors are also attracted to invest in countries where human
resources capacity is good because they are assured of good returns from their investments due to
availability of competent workforce.
 Good management of resources: if resources are used in a way that leads to their damage or
depletion, they cannot contribute to social and economic development. Good management of
resources means using the available resources get maximum economic benefits while taking
appropriate measures to ensure that they are available for the future generations. Controlling
population growth is also another way of achieving sustainability in resource management as it
helps to avoid overuse and eventual depletion.
 Taxation: taxation is the way which government raises money to finance its activities including
provision of social services. Taxation policies can serve to encourage or discourage investors.
Having reasonably low taxes can help to attract more investors. Most companies do not want to
invest in countries where a lot of money will be deducted in taxes. Government can also encourage
small businesses by increasing tax free threshold. Government tax policies are therefore important
in deciding the levels of social and economic development. Every citizen should voluntarily pay
taxes in order to help the country develop socially and economically.
 Entrepreneurship: this is a process of starting a business. People who take the risk to start and
operate a business are called entrepreneurs. These people risk their own money and time because
they believe their business ideas will make a profit. Entrepreneurs must organise their businesses
well and be financially literate for them to be successful. Entrepreneurship can spur economic
development through creation of jobs, production of goods and services and payment of taxes to
government.
 Industrialisation: this is a process in which a society or country transforms itself from a primarily
agricultural society into one based on the manufacturing of goods and services. It is about
expanding the country’s capacity to produce manufactured goods and services. Individual manual
labour is often produced by assembly lines. Characteristics of industrialisation include the use of
technological innovation to solve problems, efficient mass production of goods and services that
can be sold on the international market and robust economic growth and development.
Industrialisation helps to boost the country’s export position and to create more employment
opportunities. Countries that are industrialised tend to produce more and high quality manufactured
products that compete favourably on the international market.
 Urbanisation: this refers migration of people from the rural areas the urban areas such as cities
and towns. Migrants to urban areas provide labour to the expanding industries and a market for
manufactured goods and services in the economy and help to bring about economic development.
 Peace and stability: these are pre-requisite for promoting economic development of individuals
and society at large. These have a direct long term effects on the creation of a sound and
competitive economic environment for doing business and all other economic activities.
Strengthening peace and stability promotes development and creates a favourable investment
 environment. Serious investors would not want to invest money in areas where there is war and
conflict. War and conflict lead to destruction of critical social and economic infrastructure and
people are able to go about their normal businesses. Furthermore, government spends money and
other resources on the war effort rather than on areas that would promote social and economic
development.
 Technology: technology innovation can help to foster economic development by improving levels
of education and training and reduce time and cost production and distribution of goods and
services. Technology enables companies to mass produce while maintaining a uniform quality in
the product. This help to increase production in the economy and improve the country’s gross
domestic product. Information and communication technologies can help businesses to gain
access to capital and market information and overcome geographic limitations.
 Cooperation: this is about working together to achieve economic development for the country. In
an organisation or company, cooperation leads team morale and good working atmosphere that
lead to increased productivity. Countries may also cooperate through regional organisations such
as COMESA, ECOWAS and SADC in order to increase regional trade. Government should put in
place policies that make it easy for investors and financial institutions to operate.
 Economic diversification: this is a process in which a growing range of economic outputs is
produced. It involves increasing contribution of various sectors to the country’s GDP. Some of the
sectors include agriculture, tourism, industry, service and mining. Having an economy that is based
on a wide range of profitable sectors plays a key role in establishing a sustainable economy.
Diversification reduces a country’s economic volatility and increases its real activity performance. It
helps to ensure that the economy is protected from the risks of poor performance in one sector.
 Promoting large, medium and small sized businesses: the economic environment should be
carefully designed to ensure that businesses of all size feel comfortable to operate. Small and
medium enterprises (SMEs) should also have access to loans in order to increase their investment
capital. These may be owned and operated by an individual or family and may employ few people.
SMEs help to reduce unemployment levels which are very important in achieving economic
development.
 Economic policies: economic policies of the government help to determine the pace and the level
of economic development. Some of the economic policies include the following:
a. Privatisation: this is the transfer of ownership of property or businesses from government
to a private owned entity. It is considered to bring more efficiency and objectivity to the
company, something that a government company is not concerned about. Before
privatisation, many areas of business and employment were under government ownership.
This has the following disadvantages;
 Instead of making profits, state owned industries (parastatals) require subsidies
which add to the government spending.
 All borrowing ends up being counted as government borrowing. Government is
therefore often tempted to force them to reduce borrowing despite any commercial
need. This results in under-investing and inability to compete.
  Management of state owned enterprises often becomes lazy and inefficient
because they receive financial support from the government.
 Workers in state owned enterprises may push for wage rises not justified by
productivity gains and may resist attempts to improve productivity through reform
working practices and reducing the labour force. This makes parastatals to
continuously make loses and become a liability to the government.
 State owned enterprises may be prone to corruption and nepotism.

Benefits/advantages of privatisation

 Private owned enterprises are more efficient because they are profit oriented
 Government does not lose money through subsidies to loss making
parastatals
 Privatisation increases competition among privately owned companies and
this may lead to reduction in prices of their goods and services.
 Privatisation offers opportunity to citizens to invest their money through buying
shares
 Privatising state owned enterprises generates revenue that can be used to
finance the provision of social services

Disadvantages of privatisation

 Privatised businesses have tended to close down some parts of their

businesses which they consider as unprofitable and so depriving people of
certain services.
 Privatisation has sometimes led to private monopolies with too little
competition to benefit consumers.
b. Market liberalisation: this is the process of removing or reducing state regulation or
control of the market. Government interference in the market is seen as counter-productive
to the spirit of competition. Instead, producers determine on their own what to produce
based on demand and the market. Market liberalisation encourages the development of
more private enterprises and increases competition among them. The rationale for market
liberalisation is often that fewer and simpler regulations will lead to a raised level of
competitiveness which may result in higher productivity, more efficiency and lower prices.
c. Free trade: this is the removal or reduction of restrictions or barriers on the free exchange
of goods and services between countries. This includes the removal or reduction of tariff
(duties and surcharges) and non-tariff obstacles such as licensing rules, quotas and other
requirements. Proponents of free trade (trade liberalisation) say that it lowers consumer
costs, increases efficiency and fosters economic growth. Free trade enables countries to
focus on their core competitive advantages, thereby maximising economic output and
fostering income growth for their citizens. A trade policy should enable a nation to generate
enough foreign currency to purchase the products or services that is done not produce.
 d. Import substitution: this is an economic policy in which government attempts to replace
imports with domestically produced goods and services. The aim is to protect domestic
infant industries in order to make them survive and make the local economy more self
sufficient.

How the factors contribute to economic development

Availability of resources provides the means for people to improve their social and economic well-being and
to transform their entire society. Achieving sustainable economic development is dependent on good
management of the resources. Improper management can only increase levels of poverty, deplete the
resources and lead to environmental degradation. Taxation policies can be used to encourage more
investment to promote job creation. Money raised from taxes can help government to provide social
services that can change people’s quality of life and to improve the social and economic infrastructure.

Industrialisation helps to expand the country’s capacity to produce manufactured goods and services. This
has the effect of improving country’s real GDP and its export position which are critical for achieving
economic development. Industrialisation increases the demand for labour in the new industries. This is
where urbanisation becomes important because those people who move into the urban areas provide the
much needed labour to the new industries. Peace and stability create favourable investment that attracts
more investors into the country. This helps to increase economic activities and consequently lead to
economic development. Technology can also help to foster economic development by enabling companies
to produce high quality products.

Furthermore, cooperation helps to bring together various players in the economy in order to increase
productivity. Promoting businesses of all sizes helps to increase economic activities and to create more
employment opportunities to realize meaningful economic development.

Technological development
Technology is the practical application of scientific knowledge to produce things and solve problems.
Technologically development is the advancement in the use of scientific knowledge to produce things,
solve problems and make human life easier.

Types of technology
 Communication technology: this is a system that uses technical means to transmit information or
data from one place to another or from one person to another. Humans make and use
communication technology tools such as phones, computers, emails, fax, radio and television to
stay in touch and to facilitate the flow of information.
 Information technology: it is a set of hardware and software tools used to store information.
Information technology tools help in providing the right people with the right information at the right
time. It is used to complete various tasks which include transferring information to facilitate decision
making, improve customer care and so much more.
  Construction technology: this is the use of advanced methods and equipment to build structures.
It involves the use of construction technological tools like heavy tractors to prepare land and
computer design software to create designs for structures on computers and in 3D format.
 Assistive technology: this is the type of technology which is used by people to accomplish
specific tasks which seem to be difficult or impossible to perform. Assistive technology is being
used in schools to help students with autism to learn better; help people with disabled bodies
move; help people who cannot type with a keyboard use computers with speech recognition
application.
 Medical technology: this is the type of technology which is used to extend and improve human
life. It is used to diagnose infections, treat diseases and to make research on diseases affecting
human beings.
 Entertainment technology: this is the use of technological components to create an
entertainment experience. Technology is used to build theatres, create video games, developed
musical systems and create scenery fabrication and interactive environments.
 Business technology: this is the type of technology which is made up of various hardware tools
and software applications used to run a business and enhance various business operations. Small
business use technology to create new ways of competing with well established companies. To
some extent, some business technologies can make a small company look like a big company and
help it gain position in a competitive market.
 Education technology: this is the type of technology which aims at improving performance by
creating and managing various technological processes and resources. It helps students to learn
how they devise solutions to problems through research, design, evaluation and utilization.
Educational technology motivates students and encourages individual learning. It also makes
access to educational materials easy.
 Agricultural technology: produces plants and animals for food, fiber and fuel.
 Environmental technology: creates tools to minimize the effect of technology on the development
of living things. Examples include hybrid vehicles, conservation, waste management.
 Nanotechnology: manipulating materials on an atomic or molecular level.

Energy and power technology, industrial technology, transport technology, military technology, food
technology, digital technology, Cyber technology etc.

Indicators of technological development

 Mechanization of agriculture: increased use of farm machinery for different farm operations by
farmers is an indicator of technological development. This increases productivity of land and labor
through timeliness of operations, efficient use of inputs, safety and comfort of farmers and
reduction of loss in produce.
 Space exploration: the ability by human beings to undertake space exploration activities using
both manned and unmanned spacecrafts is an indicator of advances in technological development.
 The development of rockets and the advances in electronics and other technologies has made it
possible for people to go into outer space.
 Modernization of transport systems: a modern transport system that includes a modern network
of roads, railways, airports, tunnels and harbors coupled with modern cars, trains, aero planes and
ships can indicate the level of technological development in the country.
 Increased access to modern information and communication technology: when an
increasingly large number of people have access to modern information and technologies such as
radios, televisions, cell phones, telephones and computers, it is an indicator of technological
development.
 Use of technology in the delivery of health and education: this shows technological
development. Hospitals may use advanced technology for diagnosis and treatment of diseases.
Schools may also use modern technology to enhance teaching and learning even for those
students with learning disabilities.
 Increased automation of business operations and production processes: use of machines
and electronic devises instead of human labor in business operations and production process is an
indicator of technological development.

Effects of technological development

Positive effects
 It has led to the development of new and more effective drugs, new ways of diagnosing diseases
and treatments. These have helped in curing most challenging human diseases and so prolonging
the human lifespan.
 It has brought about major improvements in communication and information dissemination through
the use of telephones, fax, email, mobile phones, computers, radio and television. People are able
to follow new developments around the world, no matter where they are due to advances in
technology.
 Agriculture technology has resulted into increased food production through the use of modern
methods and improved plant and animal breeds.
 Business technology has assisted in increasing production and efficiency by automating most
tasks. It has also helped small business gain competitive advantage by improving their visibility
through advertising on internet, radio and television.
 Transport technology has helped to improve the movement of people, goods and services
worldwide. For example, with the use of aero planes it is now possible to reach distance places
within hours which took years of time to reach in the old days. Cars and bicycles and trains have
also helped to ease movement on land, just as cargo and passenger ships made water transport
more reliable and efficient.
 Technological development has led to increased access to higher education at a reduced cost
through distance learning programs. People are able to enroll in e-learning programs abroad which
are relatively cheaper and attend lessons through video conferencing. Teachers are able to assign
 examinations to their students electronically and marking is also done electronically. Internet
technology has made it easy for students and teachers to access information using computers and
smart phones. Assistive technology has also enabled students with learning difficulties to
successfully complete their studies.
 Technology products such as radio, home-threatre systems and television have enabled people to
bring entertainment in their homes.
 The use of modern technology in industries has led to mass production of goods and services to
meet the ever increasing demand on the world market. This has led to improved access to such
goods and services and also expansion of the industries as they try to satisfy the global market
 Construction technology has led to the building of modern and improved structures such as
houses, roads, bridges and rail lines that are of high quality.
 Advances in technology have led to improved data storage for individuals and businesses by
enabling them to keep important information in multiple locations. The use of database and remote
storage facilities has helped in keeping critical information and data for businesses and
organizations secure and accessible from anywhere.

Negative effects
 Increased cases of violence and low moral standards: some technologies such as video, television
and the internet expose people including children to uncensored content. This may include sexually
explicit programs or films and movies with scenes of violence. This leads to reduced moral
standards and violent behavior among people, particularly the youth who become overzealous to
copy anything they see.
 Increased spending due to maintenance: after buying new technologies one has to pay another
cost of maintaining them. This is expensive.
 Depletion of foreign currency reserves due to the cost of new technologies: net importers of
technology products, particularly developing countries spend a huge amount of their foreign
currency reserves on importation of new technologies.
 Increased levels of unemployment: the use of technology has reduced the need for workers in
industries and organizations as most tasks and production processes are now automated. This has
led to loss of jobs for some people and many others being unable to find employment.
 Environmental damage: for example, lack of proper mechanisms to dispose of electronic devices
which contain toxic substances such as cell phones, TV sets and computers means that most of
these are discarded together with other rubbish and winds up in landfills and other places where
air, water and soil are contaminated. Carbon emissions from burning fossil fuels in factories,
thermo power plants, airplanes, cars and other things are also contributing to the destruction of the
ozone layer in the atmosphere leading to global warming.
 Technology has been used to develop deadly weapons such as nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons. These pose a threat to human and animal life as long as they are being stockpiled by
countries.
  Accidents: The safety of some technologies is not guaranteed as they are prone to accidents that
result in their death or injury of people as well as extensive property and environmental damage.
 Suffocation of small businesses or companies that have limited access to modern technologies:
technology has been used by some companies to consolidate their monopoly of the market. This
has led to the strangulation of small businesses and companies that have found it difficult to spend
on new technologies.

Factors that contribute to technological development

 Research and innovation: research plays a role in the development of new technologies and in
making further modification to existing technologies to suit new challenges. Innovation offers added
value for end users by providing better and cheaper functionality than previous options. Thus
providing financial resources to fund research and innovation can help a country to achieve
technological development.
 Human capital: investing in the development of human capital through education and training in
scientific knowledge and methods can therefore help in increasing the number of people interested
in the development of new technologies. This can contribute to technological development
 Adopting appropriate technologies: it is important to match or adapt technologies to the local
needs and conditions for effective use, otherwise resources may be wasted. Adopting technologies
that are appropriate can help to spur technological development.
 Raising awareness about the benefits of technology: technological development can only take
place where people are aware of the benefits of using technology as a way of achieving successful
and sustainable development. Such awareness helps to ensure easy diffusion of the new
technologies because people are willing to use them.
 Cooperation between technologically advanced countries and developing countries: cooperation
enables developing countries to access technology from the developed countries. This can be
through imports of the already made technology products in the form of capital goods and
components or through foreign direct investments. It can also be through sharing of knowledge and
skills by offering foreign education and training.
 Quality of vocational or technical training: high quality of vocational and technical training helps to
ensure that students acquire relevant knowledge and skills needed for specific technologies to be
adopted, used and maintained, thus making a significant contribution to the technological
development of the society.
 Adopting policies that are conducive for technological development: a free trade policy can help to
trigger competition between businesses and this can influence them to devise technological
innovations in order to win more customers. Removing or reducing import duty on certain critical
technologies that are foreign made such as cell phones and computers can also help to encourage
more technological diffusion.
 Putting in place technology support infrastructure: this includes roads, rail lines, airports,
laboratories, telecommunication centers and others. It may also include establishing institutions
such as universities that specialize in science and technology, technical colleges, testing and
 quality product control institutions as well as research and development institutions. This can help
to develop national capacity to use and develop new technologies.
 Competition between businesses: competition may force businesses to adopt new technologies in
order to increase their competitive advantage on the market. This can encourage technological
development because more businesses and companies are influenced to adopt new technologies.
 Investment in research: research on new technologies is usually undertaken by research
institutions including universities. This may be commissioned by government, companies or any
other organization that has interest in the development of new technologies.
 Countries that are technologically advanced are USA, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Russia,
China, Japan, India, South Africa and South Korea.

TOPIC 6: POPULATION CHANGE

Characteristics of Population change
Population change is the difference between in the size of a population between the end and the beginning
of a given period of time. Population change is equal to natural population change and net migration
including corrections. Population change therefore has two components of natural change and net
migration. Natural population change is the number of live births minus the number of deaths. While net
migration is the number of immigrants minus the number of emigrants.

The population of a defined territory such as a country changes in size between two dates due to interplay
or interaction of fertility, mortality and migration. The three factors are known as components of population
change. Population change is calculated as follows: population change = (total birth - total deaths) + (total
immigrants - total emigrants).

The excess birth over death in a given period is called Natural increase. The excess death over births is
called natural decrease. The difference between immigration and emigration is called net migration. Given
the size of the population at a given point in time, the population size at the subsequent dates may
increase, remain constant or decrease depending on the net effect of the interaction of the components of
population change.

A positive population change, when a result of net migration plus live births minus deaths is positive, is
called population growth or population increase or increment. Births and immigration increase population
size. A negative population change is called population decrease or decline. Deaths and emigration
decrease population size. A zero population growth occurs when there is no population growth and decline
as death rate and birth rate are equal or immigration and emigration are equal.

Factors that lead to population change

1. Birth rate

This refers to the number of live births born per 1000 in a year. Birth rates are affected by such factors as
nutrition, fertility, attitudes about abortion, social and labor value of children, government policies,
availability of contraception and culture.

Fertility rate: This is the average number of children a woman actually produces during her reproductive
period. In Malawi about 52% of the population is women. The average number of children each of these
women is expected to bear children is approximately 6. This leads to population growth in Malawi. The
global total fertility rate is 2.5.

Value of children: Some people attach value due to the importance of children as part of the labor force
especially in rural areas where children begin working to help to help to raise crops or look after livestock
and other chores at an early age. Individual families have traditionally looked upon increased membership
as a benefit not liability. In that culture, more children mean more wealth. Grown children are also
depended upon in many cultures to provide for parents in their older years. Larger families make that
provision more secure. They feel that when they have children that it gives higher standards. In countries
with an agricultural economy, the population growth rate is likely to be higher as more children are needed
for work on the land so children will be an economic resource in this type of economic environment.

Urbanization: People living in urban areas have better aces to family planning services and tend to have
fewer children than those living in rural areas where children are needed to perform essential tasks.

Cost of raising and educating children and labor value of children: Countries with a more
industrialized economy will have fewer children than a country whose economy focus on agriculture as
children are more needed for working the land. Instead children become a burden in an urbanized and
industrialized nation as their parents will need to pay for their education, healthcare and childcare as most
adults will be working during the day. This can discourage families from having a large family if they live in
this type of economic environment, leading to a lower fertility rate and a lower population growth rate in
industrialized countries.

Educational and employment opportunities for women : Birth rate tends to be low when women have
access to education and paid employment outside the home. Women with higher education tend to have
fewer children and women with no education have an average of more than three times as many as
children as women who continued their education beyond secondary level. Women who have high
standards of education are less likely to want a large family as they will be seeking careers instead and will
be motivated to support themselves.

Infant mortality rate: Infant mortality rate is the number of deaths of children before they reach their first
birthday. It was estimated at 52.78 per 1000 which is among the highest in the world. This may force a
couple to have many children in the hope that even when one die others would survive to adulthood to
support their parents in their old age.

Age at marriage: Women normally have fewer children when their average age at marriage is 25 or older.
Many unmarried teens have babies at younger age. One in five adolescent girls in Malawi begins child
bearing by age 17. This means they have a long period of child bearing and are likely to have many
children in the process.

Availability of private and public pension systems: Pensions eliminate parent's need to have many
children to help them in old age.

Availability of legal abortion and reliable birth control methods: Most of the women in developing
countries do not have money or the resources to prevent pregnancies. Large family size remains the norm
despite the high demand for family planning. Therefore, lack of access to birth control methods and
abortion leads to rapid population growth.

Religious beliefs, traditions and cultural norms: These tend to favor large families, strongly oppose
abortion and some forms of birth control, therefore fertility rates in those areas can be higher than areas
with more relaxed religious views. Cultural traditions that encourage women to stay home and have babies
lead to rapid population growth.

Population management policies: This can include policies that encourage a higher fertility rate such as
the pro-natal policies in France, Germany, Poland and Italy which places a number of social and economic
incentives to encourage families to have more children such as child benefits, cheaper travel for families
and three years paid maternity leave. Population management policies also include those which encourage
a lower fertility rate such as the one child policy in China. The government of Malawi decided to introduce
the national population policy which adopted family planning program in 2004 to try to reduce the fertility
rate and therefore slow population growth rate. This program involves public information which focuses on
the benefits of a small child family and raises the awareness of contraception.

2. Death rate

Death rate is the number of deaths per 1000 in a year. Death rate is affected by diseases/epidemics, wars,
medical technology, availability and affordability of quality healthcare, transportation development and
nutrition, lifestyle habits of the people. Population decrease is used in relation to the large reductions in
population due to violence, diseases, natural disasters, wars, famine and starvation, low birthrate and the
AIDS epidemic.

Epidemics: the outbreak of epidemics causes a high number of deaths. The HIV/AIDS epidemic for
example, has contributed much to reducing the levels of population growth in Africa. This affects the death
rate and its life expectancy figures in a country. Immunization is reducing the death toll from some
contagious disease. There are now cures to some deadly diseases such as vaccines and other medicines;
therefore people are able to live longer. There have been successful inoculation programs to eliminate
measles, neo-natal tetanus and polio.

Maternal mortality: this refers to deaths of women due to complications of pregnancies before, during and
after giving birth. Due to improved medical care of women and young children, infant and maternity
mortality rates are declining.

Life expectancy: this refers to an estimated number of years that people in a country can expect to live at
birth. It has increased due to improving health conditions and standards of living.

Natural disasters: some countries suffer from time to time from natural disasters caused by earthquakes,
floods, bush fires or hurricanes. Sometimes these natural disasters cause great loss of life as well as
destruction of homes, animals and other property.

Greater advances in science and technology: the success in reducing death rates and improving the
quality of life for most people was attributable to several factors including increases in public health (water
and sanitation) and medical technology along with gains in education and standards of living within many
developing nations. With these inventions, people were able to fight and cure deadly germs that once killed
them.

Wars: in modern wars, the main effect on population is likely to be high numbers of refugees leaving the
country. There have been also cases where wars have caused a number of deaths.

3. Migration

People move into a country (immigration) to access financial resources, finding employment, education or
joining family members. Sometimes countries experience a rapid increase in population due to immigration
for example refugees fleeing a conflict from Mozambique to Malawi in 1980s or high number of people
seeking a better life in Europe. Factors causing emigration include wars, poverty, life-threatening
discrimination or natural disasters and unemployment.

Effects of population growth in a country

 It puts pressure on individual households. High fertility rate and short intervals between births leads
to an increase in number of dependents. The individual, the family may be required to provide
resources to more people than they can afford. More children lead to more pressure on land
 resources, food supplies and housing. So there is likely to be poverty and food insecurity and
higher likelihood of low attendance at school and poor health.
 It puts pressure on urban housing and other infrastructure resulting in adequate shelter or
substandard housing. It also leads to homeless and overcrowding.
 It puts pressure on agricultural land resources where result in fragmentation of land below the
economic level. Most Malawians live in rural areas and they depend on farming for survival.
 It puts pressure on the available health services which may lead to the lowering of health services
and health of the people. There are few medical facilities including nurses, doctors, medicine,
dispensaries and modern health care family planning facilities to match the rapid increase in
population. A lot of people are dying due to shortage of drugs and personnel in hospitals.
 There is acute shortage of drinking and irrigation water. It leads to clean water-scarce conditions
and force people to use unsanitary or unclean water which leads to some diseases.
 Youthful population exerts pressure on access to quality education. An increase in number of
children being born usually results in an increase in the school going age population leading to
more demand for education facilities and resources.
 Most countries, their challenge have always been creation of jobs and provision of employment
opportunities for the rapidly growing labor force. Any increase in the population affects the labor
market and may create unemployment and low standards of living in the country.
 It exerts a lot of pressure on land resources since more people require settling and cultivating than
the land can support especially in an agricultural country like Malawi. When there are more people,
land become scarce. People cultivate on small land areas. They also end up cultivating on
marginal land. As a result, they produce less than they need. The overall impact as lowering of
people's standard of living, chronic food shortages and malnourished and hunger deaths.
 Large population leads to environmental degradation. Population puts pressure on natural
resources which exceeds their regeneration capacity. The main demands are firewood, poles,
water, soil and food. This leads to land degradation, loss of biodiversity, pollution and adverse
climate change and energy overconsumption. Human activities such as burning of fossil fuels and
agricultural food production are causing extinction of species. Habitats are being reduced or lost as
a result of global warming. The rate of ecosystem change is now rapid.
 It reduces the private and public capital formation and diverts additions to capital resources. This
leads to decreasing per capita GNP and reduced standards of living. This may result in increased
government expenditure and increased borrowings from the international organizations.
 As the human population increases the chance for massive death caused by epidemic infections
from a virus increases as well. This results from the ease with which industrialized society would
spread the virus from person to person.
 It leads to energy crisis as it results in overuse of energy resources such as fossil fuels and fuel
wood resources resulting to their scarcity. There is also a serious shortage of power and problems
connected with its distribution.
 Leads to urbanization beyond a healthy developmental limit as more rural people shift to towns or
cities in search of better work or earnings. If the population of cars on the road is large, the roads
 become overcrowded and government efforts to repair them are outpaced by the rate of
deterioration. There is also waste generation and their disposal problems, serious water shortages
and unending demand for civic amenities like roads, transport and markets
 It leads to global warming
 Waste management; the waste of disposal can negatively impact ecosystems when dangerous
chemicals and toxins are leached from waste disposal sites and enter the groundwater or nearby
soil. Landfills can also release dangerous gases such as methane.

Effects of population decline

Population decline or depopulation refers to the great reduction of population over time in a region or
community caused by replacement fertility, heavy migration, disease, famine, starvation, wars and violence
including genocide or other catastrophe.

Positive effects

 It leads to reduced pressure on resources or less demand of resources. For an agricultural or

mining economy the average standard of living in a declining population at least in terms of
material possessions, rises as the amount of land and resources per person will be higher.
 It ensures the availability of employment opportunities. A population decline increases the demand
for labor, which can potentially result in a reduced unemployment rate as well as higher wages.
Decreased population will lead to higher wages and a better quality of life as the available labor
and resource supplies exceed reduced demands.
 It leads to improved standards of living. Population decline improves the nonmaterial living
circumstances such as improved and better environmental quality, less noise pollution. A country
with shrinking population and even shrinking GDP could enjoy steady improvements in personal
income and living standards.
 Community contribution of the elderly people: due to high life expectancy, they retire while they are
physically and mentally healthier and are willing to work and contribute to tax revenue. They are
able to guide the young people given their vast experience in life and work. Assist in taking care of
their grandchildren. They provide childcare, financial and emotional assistance.
 Lower crime rate: older communities are low abiding as elderly people are less inclined to commit
crimes. Older people do not usually steal or fight.
 There may also be reduced pressure on infrastructure, education and other services as well.

Negative effects

 It affects the price of housing. If a population declines it leads to a decrease in housing demand
and the housing supply remains fixed then falling prices may be the result. Consequently fewer
new homes are built.
 Fewer schools, health care and sports facilities are made available and local residents have to
travel further to reach the facilities they want. When people move away from the villages, jobs,
schools, shops and other facilities also disappear.
 Businesses lose customers. Old people do not buy many things or spend a lot of money. This will
also reduce economy.
 Loss of funding because of the decline in tax revenue for the provision of social services and the
tax increases which may lead to the economic stagnation. By reducing the able workforce, the
government may see funding cuts, if the funding tax base withers because of the decline of tax
payers. Pure public goods and services can be more easily financed when the relevant population
is growing.
 Countries with a declining population will face the burden of caring for large elderly populations
without a large resource of young workers to draw on. The fewer people who are left will have to
pay much more taxes to support the older generation.
 Increased fiscal gap which represents an in balance in revenue and expenditure of the
government. Amount of money being spent by government to increase spending on health care
and pensions whilst older people pay lower income taxes as they are not working.
 Low fertility reduced the rate of scientific and other innovations since innovations mainly come from
younger individuals who are adaptable.
 TOPIC 7: PREJUDICE AND DISCRIMINATION
Prejudice refers to unfounded beliefs and may include any unreasonable attitude that is unusually
resistance to rational influence.

Contemporary theories explaining prejudice

In-group (is a group to which someone belongs) favoritism: this maintains that in-group favoritism can
occur even in groups without prior social meaning. For example individuals placed into groups based on
something like group work in a Social Studies class are more likely to show prejudiced tendency by giving
preferential treatment to their in-group members. Many group prejudices are more a function of favoritism
toward one's own group than negative feelings toward other groups. Many forms of prejudice and
discrimination develop not because out-groups are hated, but because positive emotions such as
admiration, sympathy and trust are reserved for the in-group. The tendency of people to favor their own
group, known as in-group bias, is found everywhere as people tend to see their own group as better and
they will frequently seek to maintain an advantage over other groups.

The out-group homogeneity effect: this is the perception that members of an out-group are more similar
(homogeneous) than members of the in-group. When it comes to values, attitudes, personality traits and
other characteristics, people tend to see out group members as more alike than in-group members. As a
result, out-group members are more likely to be stereotyped. For example, men complaining that women
are all alike and women complaining those men are all alike.

Realistic conflict theory: this states that competition for limited resources leads to increased negative
prejudices and discrimination. For example, negative prejudice can be created between two groups after
competing for small prizes in a netball tournament.

Integrated threat theory: it is based on several other psychological explanations of prejudice and in-
group/out-group behavior. It states that out-group prejudice and discrimination is caused when individuals
perceive an out-group to be threatening. There are four threats identified by this theory as follows:

1. Realistic threats: these are tangible threats such as competition for a natural resources or a threat to
income

2. Symbolic threats: these arise from perceived difference in cultural or other values between groups or
perceived imbalance of power, for example, an in-group perceiving an out-group's religion as a threat to
theirs.

3. Inter-group anxiety: this is the feeling of uneasiness as a result of the presence of an out-group member
or as it constitutes a threat to comfortable interaction.

4. Negative stereotypes: individuals expect negative behavior from out-group members in line with the
perceived stereotype. For example, the presence of one or more members of a particular group perceived
as violent, may lead to feelings of fear and discrimination.
Discrimination
Discrimination denies social participation or human rights to categories of people based on prejudice. It leads to the
restriction of an individual or members of one group and so excluding them.

Forms of discrimination
 Institutional or structural discrimination: this is unequal treatment that is entrenched in basic
social institutions of society such as schools, the media, housing, medical care, government and
sports. It refers to those practices in social institutions that have the effect of denying rights or
opportunities to certain individuals or groups.
 Individual or personal discrimination: this involves unfair treatment of a person by another
person because of their group membership and other stereotypes.
 Direct discrimination: this occurs when someone is treated less favorably than another person
because of having a particular characteristic that is stereotyped.
 Associative discrimination: this occurs when someone is directly discriminated against because
they are associated with another person who possesses a particular trait or characteristic that it
stereotyped.
 Legal discrimination: this involves unequal treatment on the grounds of group membership that is
upheld by law. This form of discrimination can only be removed through the court and parliament.
 Discrimination by perception: this occurs when someone is directly discriminated against
because others think that they possess a particular characteristic. They do not necessarily have to
possess the characteristic, but just perceived to have the characteristic.
 Indirect discrimination: this occurs when there is a rule or policy that applies to everyone but
disadvantages a person with a particular characteristic.

Types of discrimination
 Age discrimination: this is discrimination and stereotyping based on someone’s age. Usually, it is
the orderly who are mostly affected by this type of discrimination because of their old age. This
may lead to the exclusion of the elderly from the mainstream activities of the country thereby
reducing them to spectators rather than active participants in development.
 Caste (untouchable) discrimination: this is discrimination of certain sections of the population
based on social classes. This is mainly in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal where millions of
Dalits or scheduled castes are discriminated against.
 Disability discrimination: this is against people with disabilities. It often involves treating non-
disabled individuals as standard for normal living, resulting in public and private places and
services being built to serve those without disabilities, thereby excluding those with disabilities.
 Employment discrimination: this involves denying someone employment or disallowing them
from applying for a job for reasons not related to the requirements of the position. Recruitment is
 not based on merit but group connection to those hiring, thus leaving well qualified individuals
jobless and frustrated.
 Racial discrimination: this is based on the color of one’s skin. For example, black people in South
Africa were discriminated against based on their skin color until 1994 when the white apartheid
regime collapsed and Nelson Mandela became the first black president of the country.
 Ethnic or tribal discrimination: this type of discrimination creates hatred between people of
different ethnic groups within a society, and may lead to inter-tribal conflict or civil war.
 Sex discrimination: this involves denying a person opportunities or treating them less favorably
because of being female or male. The main victims are women and girls.
 Religious discrimination: it involves valuing or treating a person or a group of people differently
because of their religious beliefs. It also occurs when individuals or certain groups of people are
denied the equal protection of the law, equality of status under the law, equal treatment in the
administration of justice and equality of opportunity and access to social services because of their
religious beliefs.
 Cultural discrimination: it involves treating a person or a group of people less favorably because
of their cultural identity. It is usually practiced by a more dominant group of the society as a way of
trying to define cultural values as well as the form those values should take.
 Linguistic discrimination: it is the unfair treatment of an individual based on solely on their use of
language. A person may be discriminated against on the basis of their inability to use a particular
language or their accent in speaking the language.
 Regional or geographic discrimination: it is based on the area or region in which someone lives
or was born.
 Political discrimination: this arises from differences in political ideologies.

The relationship between prejudice and discrimination

Discrimination sometimes occurs as a result of prejudice or when a prejudice is translated into action. For
example, someone who says ‘’only their tribe is intelligent’’ is clearly prejudiced and when he/she refuses to
hire people from other tribes believing that they are not intelligent as their own tribe is certainly practicing
discrimination.

1. Unprejudiced and non-discriminatory: this is a situation in which a person is not prejudiced and
is also not discriminatory. It presents an ideal situation which is desirable for any society.
2. Unprejudiced and discriminatory: this is a situation in which one is not prejudiced but still
discriminates against certain individuals and groups. This explains the relationship between
prejudice and discrimination that is particularly common in institutional or structural discrimination
where for instance, a particular policy in an organization may not deliberately designed to be
discriminatory but disadvantages some people leading to their being discriminated against.
3. Prejudiced and non-discriminatory: this is a situation in which a person is clearly prejudiced but
does not discriminate against anyone. For example, the owner of a private school who does not
 like a particular group of people, may still allow their children enroll into his/her school so as not to
lose money.
4. Prejudiced and discriminatory: this is a situation in which an individual is prejudiced and also
discriminates.

Causes of prejudice and discrimination

 Ignorance or lack of knowledge about the other groups in society due to lack of interaction. Some
cases of prejudice and discrimination are a result of negative stereotypes established through lack
of contact between groups.
 Irresponsible behavior by political and religious leaders. Most people get their views by listening to
the views of politicians, religious leaders and other people who have some form of influence over
them. When these leaders make hate speeches against certain groups of people, it promotes
prejudice and discrimination.
 Fear of what seems strange or unknown about the other groups. Prejudice and discrimination may
be caused by people’s suspicious reaction to anyone whose appearance, culture or behavior is
unfamiliar.
 Fear of competition. This is when people decide to exclude others such as foreigners from securing
jobs, doing businesses and other opportunities in order to remove or reduce competition.
 Selfishness. Individual members of the dominant groups may want to enjoy concrete gains such as
economic control.
 Conformity to the norms of a group. Some people practice discrimination due to fear that members
of their group will punish them for accepting the outside group. This means that discrimination may
occur because individuals may just want to the rules of their groups.
 Certain individuals are prejudiced and practice discrimination because is something they learnt
from childhood and have come to believe that all the stereotypes about the other groups are true.
 Influence of the media. The media can promote prejudice and discrimination by disseminating
stereotypical messages about certain groups of people.
 Ethnocentrism. This is the tendency by individuals to view groups outside their own as different. It
leads to prejudice and discrimination because members of the same group are more likely to view
other groups as inferior and it creates conflicts between different groups.
 Desire to perpetuate political control. Some people particularly the ruling class may use
discrimination in order to prolong their stay in power using divide and rule.
 Authoritarian personality. Prejudice and discrimination may also arise from one’s personality type,
particularly when it is characterized by belief in absolute obedience and the administration of that
belief through the oppression of one’s subordinates. It usually applies to individuals who are known
or viewed as having an authoritative strict or oppressive personality towards others.
Effects of prejudice and discrimination
 Victims of prejudice and discrimination may develop a low self-esteem by believing what is being
said about them. Such people may feel that they have inferior status in society and accept to live
as failures and second class citizens. Unfortunately, such feelings may be passed on to children
and breed a future generation that has similar feelings.
 The victims develop hatred and anger directed both outwardly at those holding prejudices against
them and inwardly for having the supposed traits that attract such prejudices. This means that they
are displeased by those prejudiced against them but also blame themselves for having those
characteristics being negatively stereotyped.
 Prejudice and discrimination create barriers for entire populations, such as women or minorities,
seeking to enjoy the benefits of participating in mainstream society by placing them in the
periphery. These cannot fully and freely make their contributions to national development thereby
creating an artificial obstacle to social and economic progress of society.
 Resentment and conflict. Those being discriminated against may refuse to submit to the wishes of
the discriminators and may resort to violence, terrorism and war in order to force policy changes.
 Skills and abilities that could be useful to society are not used to the fullest because certain people
are not hired for positions because of discrimination. In most cases, trivial factors such as religious,
racial or ethnic identities are considered paramount at the expense of merit in the recruitment of
workers. This practice lowers productivity in both the private and public sectors leading to poor
performance of the economy and poor service delivery to people.
 The victims of prejudice and discrimination can develop anxiety and depression which may lead to
ill-health and even death. An individual may start getting worried about their future and the future of
children because of the persistence prejudice and discrimination against them. This may result in
poor eating habits and emotional distress which lead to the development of poor health.
 Some victims of prejudice and discrimination withdraw from friends, family and even co-workers
and lead a life of seclusion. This may result to suicide due to frustration and anger.
 Prejudice and discrimination in areas of education, employment and loans can have effect of
increasing poverty among people belonging to groups that are discriminated against. More people
are increasingly pushed into poverty due to lack of opportunities that are only made available to the
selected section of the population.
 Prejudice and discrimination in schools can lead to poor academic performance for those students
who are the victims.
 Some individuals may engage in alcohol, drug and substance abuse to suppress their emotional
feelings arising from the effects of prejudice and discrimination. This creates health and social
problems such as mental ill-health, violent behaviors and irresponsible sexual relationships leading
to contraction of sexually transmitted infections and HIV/AIDS.
 Prejudice and discrimination may also lead to a rise in crime and increased insecurity as some of
the victims may resort to theft, robbery and violence due to poverty, anger and frustration.
 TOPIC 8: GENDER ISSUES IN MALAWI
Laws and policies that are gender biased in Malawi
Religious laws: some religious place women on their role to train the next generation and prepare the
young for heaven. They officially controlled by men in form of clergy and religious authorities. In some
religions, it is not accepted for women to take leading roles or to preach. For example, women cannot
become priests in the Roman Catholic Church. Women are not ordained to be ministers, pastors, priests
and bishops because the bible specifically prohibits it as prompted by Paul’s comments in Timothy 2:8-15.

Citizenship Act: according to this Act, every woman in Malawi that gets married to a foreign man has to
formally announce her intention to keep her citizenship before first marriage anniversary and renounce the
citizenship of her spouse if she wants to retain her citizenship. Otherwise she has to renounce her
Malawian citizenship. This means that women are at risk of being stateless. The children of such couple
are not entitled to Malawian citizenship. However, the same situation does not apply if a Malawian man
marries a foreign woman.

Maternity leave: the employment Act of 2000 mandates for the paid maternity leave of a minimum of 56
calendar days. The government of Malawi has allowed female civil servants to take three months paid
maternity leave. The employer is expected to 100% for the maternity benefits or wages. Non pregnant and
non nursing women are expected to do the same jobs as men for equal remuneration for work of equal
value. The private sector employers, however, are reluctant to do the same to their employees because
they say three months is too long and their businesses would suffer if they allow pregnant women to be
paid during their maternity leave.

Suspension of pregnant girls: in the past it was common in Malawi for pregnant girls to be expelled
permanently from school, even before sitting for their final examinations, this shattered their dreams of a
bright future and that their parents getting out of poverty. This however, denied girls in Malawi their right to
development and also limits their opportunities. However, policy now allows girls back to school after
delivery.

The wills and inheritance laws: in Malawi the dispossession of widows is a serious problem and practice
where relatives of the deceased husband take property of their relative at the expense of the widow and the
children no matter the length of the marriage and contributions to the estate. It can be done through
grabbing, seizing, diverting or dispossessing of deceased property. The dispossession of widows infringes
upon widows right to acquire and own property. Previous laws had provided for application of customary
laws of the areas of the deceased persons to be used in cases of intestacy. This had brought problems
because a lot of property grabbers were behind the customs of their areas.

Laws and policies that have been revised to ensure gender equality and gender
equity in Malawi
Changes in some religious laws: some religious institutions are opening up and therefore allowing
women to take part in different activities like preaching, becoming priests, taking leadership roles and to
make decisions. Discrimination against women and failure to broaden their religious, economic, political
and social opportunities and independence is not only contrary to the teaching of the bible, but also a
violation of women’s rights provided in the constitution and international convention.

Will inheritance Act: this is set out to improve a woman’s access to her dead husband’s property. In a
patrilineal system, the widow is entitled to all the household belongings, and also to two-fifth of the rest of
his property. This has to be shared with the children and any other direct dependents. In matrilineal system,
the widow is entitled to half the property, as well as the household belongings. In practice, what it means is
that the widow can have access to her dead husband’s property only through a male heir. The other half is
distributed among the dead husband’s relatives.

Dress act: this act allow women to wear clothing appropriate for tasks they are doing.

Equality in education: things that have been done to improve this are as follows;

a. Admission of equal number of girls and boys in schools especially for newly established co-
education schools such as day secondary school.
b. Re-admission policy; school girls who have been suspended for being pregnant can return to
school one year after giving birth.
c. School and teacher training curricular have been revised to make them more gender sensitive.
d. Scholarship fund and bursaries have been established to help girls stay in secondary schools.
These are being done mostly by NGOs such as CAMFED and CARE-Malawi.
e. Ant-discrimination laws and equal rights for women.

Institutions in Malawi that promote gender equity and gender equality

Ministry of gender, children and social welfare: the ministry was instituted with the aim of promoting the
welfare and protection of women and children. The ministry encourages support for income generating
activities for women, credit schemes and training for women. It is also mandated to provide policy guidance
for women and children development services. It is responsible for putting in place systems to develop
instruments, structures, policies, guidelines and programs whose impact will cultivate into the realization of
the ministry’s goals and objectives. The goal is to promote social economic empowerment and protection of
women and children using community and welfare approaches. The ministry promotes women’s rights and
participation in economic, social and political spheres. Below are the achievements of the ministry;

 Women affairs: to attain gender equality, women rights and economic empowerment of women
the proportion of decision making positions that are filled by women have increased. This follows a
deliberate government commitment to entrust women with key leadership and decision making
positions such as ministerial position, principal secretary, ambassadorial, attorney general and
other positions. The ministry has developed a program aimed at increasing women participation in
 both national and local assemblies. The ministry encourages support for income generating
activities for women, credit schemes and training for women.
 Legal protection of women and child rights: A number of bills have been submitted to cabinet
for presentation to parliament and these are; the deceased estate (wills, protection and inheritance)
bill. Marriage divorce and family relations bill and child (care, protection and justice) bill. Malawi law
commission is In the process of developing a Gender Equality Statute and Human trafficking bill.
 HIV/AIDS interventions among women and girls: the ministry trained women and girls
educators who have been going in communities to conduct civic education among women and girls
on HIV/AIDS in order to minimize the impact of the epidemic of their social and economic lives.
 Women economic empowerment: under this program, an average of 500 business groups have
been formed and trained per year in business management and various is production skills and a
majority of them are now engaged in various business ventures.

Department of gender affairs: This is the ministry of gender, youth and social welfare. It is mandated to
promote gender equality and safeguard the welfare and participation of women in social, political and
economic development process. The department is responsible for gender mainstreaming and social
empowerment of women and girls.

The donor community: these include EU, UNICEF, UN agencies and DFID. The UN agencies and all
sectors shall therefore develop ways and practical means of enabling men and women to participate in
sustainable and equitable development in their programs. The approach is to assist these sectors to adopt
gender responsive planning so that promotion of gender equality and equity in national development and
productive activities take women into account. Among the specific and identified areas requiring more
support by bilateral and multilateral agencies include;

 Strengthening national institutions' capacities and abilities for gender mainstreaming when
developing national policies and programs.
 The enhancement of women participation in policy making
 Recognizing women as important agents of change
 The promotion of women and girl child's human rights.

The work of non-governmental organization (NGOs)

Many NGOs deal with issues relevant to women and children. Some of these focus on the promotion of
human rights, some promote credit schemes, which enable women to earn incomes for their families, some
focus on women's legal rights or health issues. Some examples include:-

 NGO Gender Network: it was established with the aim of bringing the gaps in advocacy and
collaboration that currently exist among NGOs working on women and gender issues, to promote
gender equality.
 Forum for African Women Educationalists in Malawi (FAWEMA): This organization has helped
to remove policies in education such as expelling pregnancy girls from school. FAWEMA
 encourages girls to participate equally with boys. Parents are made aware of the importance of
educating both boys and girls alike. FAWEMA are helping in civic educating the Malawian society
on the education of the girl child.
 National Association of Business Women in Malawi (NABW): services provided include
training, provision of credit, policy advocacy, information dissemination and networking to promote
the participation of women business enterprises. It distributes to small scale business women.
Joyce Banda is the founder of NABW.
 Women and Law in Southern Africa (WILSA): conducts research on gender issues in Malawi
and Southern Africa on issues related to legal rights, provide information on gender and the law in
order to influence policy and legal reform, networking and exchanging information between seven
WILSA countries as well as conducting relevant training and education.
 Women's legal resource centre (WOLREC): sensitizes the public on their legal rights including
demand of social services, encourage parents and guardians to uphold human rights by sending
their children to school and setting and remind traditional leaders to enforce by-laws on school
attendance. To reduce women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS by addressing harmful practices, gender
based violence and other economic factors like agri-business, village savings and loans.
 Youth Net and Counseling (YONECO): it is aimed at reducing gender inequalities between
women, men, boys and girls in accessing productive resources and development opportunities as
well as promoting decision making. To conduct civic education on HIV/AIDS, human rights, gender,
democracy and good governance among the general population, to enhance youth, women and
children participation in the democratization process and socio-economic development of the
nation.
 Creative center for community mobilization (CRECCOM): it works with women groups to
strengthen the back to school girls.
 ACT Alliance is mobilizing women and men, local partners and faith based organization to promote
zero tolerance against all types of gender based violence and to challenge traditions, behavior,
attitudes and norms that perpetuate various forms of gender based violence. Contribute to the
protection and support (medical, psychological, legal and economic) to survivors and to address
gender based violence as structural issues, as a result of power and patriarchy. Advocate for
national laws preventing violence, encourage and implement legislation against gender based
violence that ensures survivors access to care and justice. The project against human trafficking
contributed to the protection of children, youth and women through information and awareness
about safe migration and also support survivors and the affected in addition to promoting new
national legislation against human trafficking.
 The Girls Empowerment Network (GENET): a non-profit organization in Malawi, works to
discourage girls from engaging in sex at a young age. Several interventions are addressing the
problems associated with early sex among girls include: teaching initiation camp counselors about
the dangers of encouraging the girls to have early sexual activities, encourages leaders to develop
by-laws that aim to curb sexual activity among girls, modify the initiation camps' syllabus to
 encourage girls to stay in school and teach girls life skills so that they understand their rights and
become empowered.
 Men for Gender Equality Now: is an NGO that is challenging the male stereotype by working to
end violence against women. It is focusing on men as the agents of change.
 Other institutions include: Financial lending institutions for micro and medium enterprises have
been encouraged to target mostly women in rural areas

Conventions on gender in Malawi

A convention is an agreement between two countries covering particular matters especially one less formal
than a treaty. A treaty is an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law
namely sovereign States and international organizations.

The government in conjunction with NGOs and the donor community have come up with a number of bills
in order to promote women's rights and include: Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, a marriage, Divorce
and family relations Act, an HIV/AIDS (prevention and management) bill, a trafficking in person’s bill and a
gender equality bill. The government of Malawi has agreed to a number of international conventions. By
signing regional and international conventions the government of Malawi has reiterated its commitment to
gender equality. The Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW)
sets out internationally accepted standards for achieving equal rights for women. Malawi also ratified the
protocol to African Charter on Human and people's rights on the Rights of Women in Africa on the 20th
May, 2005. Malawi has also designed policies and programs to assist in putting the provisions of the
conventions into practice such as the Malawi growth and development strategy, food security and nutrition
policies, the national Gender policy, the national Gender program on the promotion of women into politics.

Government developed a National Platform of Action in 1997 following Beijing Global Platform for Action in
1995 through a consultative process with NGOs, the private sector, the civil society and donors. The
National Platform of African calls for integration of gender perspectives in all national development policies
and programs. It has four priority areas; poverty alleviation, the girl child, violence against women and
peace.

National gender policy: this was launched by government in 2000 and was developed after a consultation
period. It has six areas of action which include; education and training, reproductive health, food and
nutrition security, natural resources and environmental management, governance and human rights and
poverty eradication and economic empowerment. The government policy on gender is enhanced by the
ministry of gender, women and children development. The national Gender Policy aims to raise awareness
of gender maters, legal rights of women, diet and the efficient utilization of food and nutrition and the
economic empowerment of women as well as the poverty alleviation program.

Gender issues in Malawi

A gender issue is a belief, attitude, practice or policy which affects the social construction of gender
behavior.
1. Gender and violence: gender based violence is the use of threat or force against people of different sex
in order to advance ones interest. This type of violence can occur against a member of family, school,
workplace or community who is either a male or a female. Gender based violence take many forms and
include;

 Physical violence: this includes beating, biting, twisting limbs, bullying and deliberately tearing of
somebody's property such as books and clothes. It includes wife battering which is used as a
correctional measure for women.
 Sexual violence: this includes rape, girl-child defilement, incest, touching someone's private parts
without approval, unwelcome or unsolicited sexual comment, deliberately promising favors such as
promotion at work by people in authority in exchange of sex .
 Psychological violence/ emotional abuse: this includes use of foul language, calling girls and
women bad names because of the way they appear or dress, make them feel bad about
themselves, making threats to hurt them as well as isolating them by controlling who they see or
talk. This affects females to lose confidence thereby denying them freedom of expression and
association. It also creates bitter relations between people.
 Economic violence: this includes property grabbing, not allowing a spouse to engage in business
or employment, taking away your spouse money without consent, failure to disclose your salary or
wages to your partner, depriving your family resources and support for a better life, robbing people
their properties especially women, theft. Gender based violence is aggravated by poverty, drug and
substance abuse, lack of communication and cultural practices and beliefs.

2. Reproductive and sexual health and rights: Women and girls between the ages of 15-30 experience
very high rates of HIV/AIDS infection Malawi due to the low socioeconomic status of women in addition to
various cultural practices that prevent women from negotiating safer sex. Many of them do so with limited
knowledge of safe sex. Preventable mortality occurs where there is a failure to give effect to be rights of
women to health, equality and nondiscrimination. Preventable maternal mortality also often represents a
violation of a woman's right to life. Some countries are still condoning child marriage and marital rape while
others are outlawing abortion and sex outside marriage. All these practices infringe on the right of achieving
reproductive and sexual health.

3. Feminization of poverty: One of the salient features missing among women as the poor in Malawi is
the ability to effectively participate as actors in their communities. Women lack knowledge about their rights
therefore this diminishes their potential capabilities to become effective agents for change at the personal,
household and community levels. Therefore women remain poor and observers of development Ray than
change agents. Incomes levels among women remain very low and only about 10% of women are
employed within their formal sector. The contribution of women remain unappreciated, their potential
underutilized especially within the formal sector in Malawi because of certain traditional beliefs and customs
which direct how decisions bearing on inheritance rights, education and health practices concerning women
are made.
4. Girls' access to education: Girls face many obstacles which prevent them to take part in education,
including: early and force marriages, early pregnancy, prejudice based on gender stereotypes at home, at
school and in the community, violence on the way to school, or in and around schools, long distances to
schools, lack of role models for the girls as there are no female teachers, school fees and many more.
Investing in girls' education is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty.

5. Marriage, divorce and property laws and regulations: Equal rights for women in marriage, divorce
and property ownership an inheritance are essential for gender equality. Laws regulating marriage and
divorce continue to discriminate against women in many countries. This enables them to access legal
institutions. Often justice institutions including the police and the courts deny women justice.

The role of the law in Malawi has contributed to sustaining these gender disparities. Customary laws
generally dictate unequal gender relations, compounding the discrimination that women face by public and
private institutions. Many statutory laws which comprise subsidiary legislation to the constitution continue to
discriminate against women. Citizenship, inheritance, abortion laws, plays a strong role in the oppression of
women. Customary laws and norms deny women their constitutional rights and jeopardize women's access
to property, inheritance and divorce.

Effects of gender biases on development

1. Lost productivity: victims of gender discrimination lose motivation and morale necessary to perform
their jobs effectively and gender bias also leads to a loss in productivity. Things that may lead to this loss of
morale and motivation could include jokes about an employee's gender that implying inferiority, offensive
jokes of a suggestive or sexual nature.

2. Biased promotions: stereotypical views regarding gender can cause supervisors to engage in the
illegal, practice of passing a person over for promotion due to gender. Women who have young children at
home may experience push back. When interviewing due to family responsibilities. Although law prohibits a
prospective employer from asking about family responsibility outright, it often comes out during the
interview process anyway.

3. Destruction: those discriminated against may feel such strong resentment and loss of self-worth that
they resort to destruction as a way to get back at the discriminatory employer or coworkers.
Destructiveness may manifest itself as physical violence against others, destruction of property or
propagation of malicious rumors about people in the company and the company itself. Gender based
disparity includes any kind of verbal or physical force, coercion or life threatening deprivation, directed at an
individual girl or woman. This deprivation may cause the physical or psychological harm, humiliation.
Women's opinions are seldom valued even in matters of pregnancy, abortion, delivery, contraception.

4. Gender impact on health: we need to improve the workable social status accorded to our daughters
through assured schooling, healthcare, employment opportunities and substantive legal equality. The basic
principle is that every woman has a right to the highest attainable standard of health, to safe reproductive
choices and to high quality education. We can concentrate on preventing unsafe abortion, improving
treatment related complications and reducing its consequences. We should strive to empower women by
increasing access to services that enhance their reproductive and sexual health in a conducive
environment by introducing the new technologies, training, research and technical assistance. Adolescent
marriage becomes synonymous with adolescent child bearing. Early marriage has adverse effects on the
health of mother and child.

5. Population growth and poverty: discrimination against women is the most important cause of population
growth and poverty. Birthrates will decline voluntarily and poverty rates drop when steps are taken to
increase women's control over economic resources. Therefore gender inequality leads to poverty by
preventing women from obtaining the credit, education, training, health services, child care and legal status
needed to improve their prospects. This retards development.

Ways of achieving gender balance in Malawi

 Educating both girls and boys and increasing literacy rates among women.
 Increasing early childhood development interventions
 Increasing women's labor force participation and strengthening labor policies affecting women.
 Improving women's access to credit, land and other resources
 Promoting women's political rights and participation
 Expanding reproductive health programs and family support supplies.

Economic empowerment of women: For Malawi to reach gender equality there is needed to put in place
structures which will empower women if Malawi is to achieve gender equality which helps to be
development of the nation. Investing in women's economic empowerments sets a direct path towards
gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Gender inequality is setting back
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Achieving gender equity in health implies
eliminating unnecessary, avoidable and unjust health inequalities between men and women.

Education and training: female education and raising investment on adolescents' social and economic
prospect and enhancing their self-esteem can do a lot of improvement in their health, nutrition and
development.

Changing attitudes towards gender: people should appreciate the importance of equal treatment and share
responsibilities in the home, at school and workplace in the society. This requires civic education of the
public on the importance of gender equality.
 TOPIC 9: GOVERNMENT
Role of the state
A state is an organized political community acting or living under one government. A federated state or non-
national state is a territorial and constitutional community that forms part of a federation. The state is the
system that and enforces decisions for society. It is made up of members of parliament, ministers, judges
and magistrates, civil servants, police and army officers.

Elements/characteristics/features of a state
1. Population: A state has and must have people who live there on an ongoing basis. There can be a
population to establish a state. The population does not have to share traditions, languages or ethnic
background.

2. Territory: A state has space or geographical territory that rightly belongs to the population and which
has internationally recognized boundaries. There must be enough land to satisfy the population of the
people.

3. Government: A state is and must be a political organization and has a government through which a
state is able to use its power and carry out its authority and responsibilities. Government refers to the
agency to which the will of the state is formulated, expressed and carried out.

4. Sovereignty: this is the supreme power of the state to command and enforce obedience to its will from
the people within its jurisdiction and corollary to have freedom from foreign control. State is supreme in
internal and external matters. Internal sovereignty is the power of the state to rule within its territory even by
use of force. External sovereignty is the freedom of the state to carry out its activities without subjection to
or control by other States. Sovereignty makes any state to be equal to other States regardless of its
physical size, economic or military strength. A state is able to have legal obligation to enter into external
relations with other independent and sovereign States

• A state has economic activity and an organized economy. A country regulates foreign and domestic
trade and issues money. It has the power of social engineering. It has a transportation system for moving
goods and people.

• A state may be made up of one or several nations. A nation is a group of people that shares a
common culture. They are bound together by a common historical origin an experiences, ancestral
background and culture including language. A nation-state is where the population of a state is made up of
one nation under one government. So Malawi as a state is a community of persons more or less numerous,
permanently occupying a definite portion of territory, having a government of their own to which the great
body of inhabitants render obedience and enjoy freedom from external control.
The government is the group of people, the administrative bureaucracy that controls the state apparatus at
a given time. The function of the government is to enforce existing laws, legislate new laws and arbitrate
conflicts. The government gets its lawful powers from the people through elections. It is there to protect and
promote common interests and rights of every person.

State distinguished from nation

 The state is a political concept while a nation is an ethnic concept.
 A state is not subject to external control while a nation may or may not be independent of external
control.
 A single state may consist of one or more nations or people and conversely, a single nation may be
made up of several States

State distinguished from government

 State is a broader term which includes four elements of a state
 Government is one function/element of state
 A state cannot exist without a government, but it is possible to have a government without a state
 A government may change but the state remains the same.

Duties, responsibilities and functions of the state

1. Defence and security: it is the duty of the state to defend its people and territory from external and
internal threats. The state uses military and paramilitary institutions such as the army and police for
dealing with such threats.
2. Law and order: the Malawi police and the Malawi Defence Forces may jointly carry out specific
operations to deal with a particular internal security or safety issues. The state presented as the
head of state is the commander in chief of both the Malawi Defence Force and the Malawi police
service. This emphasizes the state nature of the functions of these institutions.
3. Conducive environment: law and order, peace, security and stability are conducive conditions for
development and the prosperity of a nation. The state therefore has responsibility to create
conditions of peace and stability so that citizens carry out their political, economic, social and
cultural activities without threats. Such an environment also makes it easier for the state to provide
development infrastructure; roads, railways, airports, electricity, telephones, hospitals, schools and
other facilities.
4. Treaty-making: the state may enter into agreements with other States or international bodies on
behalf of its citizens. Such agreements are referred to as treaties. Making treaties is one of the
functions of state that go beyond its borders.
5. International relations: Every state strives to create positive relations with other States that are
recognized by international law. Good international interactions allow citizens of a particular State
to relate more easily with those of other States in the form of trade, travel including migrations,
 education, cultural exchange and sports among others. Exchange of diplomatic missions
(ambassadors and high commissioners) is also an example of interaction between States.
6. State obligations to citizens: this includes:-
 facilitating economic development
 Respect of the rule of law
 Protection of Democratic institutions (promoting public trust and good governance)
 Protection of freedoms and rights
 Conflict management
 Promoting the social welfare of its citizens (providing education and health facilities of its citizens).

Duties and responsibilities of the head of state

 To defend and uphold the Constitution as the supreme law
 To appoint the cabinet of ministers and commissions of enquiry.
 To convene and preside over meetings of the cabinet
 To provide leadership in the interest of national unity in accordance with the Constitution and laws
of the Republic.
 To sign death warrants
 To pardon convicted offenders by the courts. The president may pardon convicted offenders, grant
stays of execution of sentence, reduce sentences or remit sentences
 To assent to bills passed by Parliament
 To appoint Malawi's ambassadors to other countries and receive ambassadors and other
diplomatic officers from other countries.
 To negotiate and sign, enter into and accede to international agreements on behalf of the people or
to delegate such powers to ministers, ambassadors and high commissioners.
 Opening and closing the parliament and answering questions in parliament.
 To be commander in chief or leads the armed forces and has power to declare war.
 To confer honors to people who have done a distinguishable service to the country.
 Creating programs to improve lifetime welfare of the nation.

The role of the Defence Forces

 Uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Republic and guard against threats to the
safety of its citizens by force of arms. Their main duty is to protect a nation against enemies.
 Uphold and protect the Constitutional order of the Republic and assist civil authorities in the proper
exercise of their functions as laid down in the Constitution.
 Provide technical expertise and resources to assist the civilian authorities in the maintenance of
essential services in time of emergency such as natural and other disasters
  Perform such other duties outside the territory of Malawi as may be required of them by treaty
entered into by Malawi in accordance with the prescription of international law. For example,
sending people to peace-making.
 Carryout such other duties as may be assigned to them from time to time, for example search and
rescue, air ambulance service and executive air transport service. The Defence Force's role is to
assist with the delivery and security of important food relief supplies as they delivered throughout
the drought stricken parts of the country.

Types and systems of government

1. Autocracy

This is a type of government in which the power to govern is held by one person or an individual, whose
decisions are subject to neither external legal restraints nor regular mechanisms of popular control.
Therefore governments with autocratic attributes are dominated by one person who has all the power over
the people of the country. Generally the power to rule is inherited or by military force. In this type of
government, there are no meaningful methods of people. There are three types of autocracy which include
dictatorship, absolute monarchy and constitutional monarchy.

Dictatorship: this is the rule by an individual who has full power over the country. A dictator uses force to
control all aspects of social and economic life. Dictatorship may also refer to a system where the dictator
came to power and holds it, purely by force. Dictators often take power when there is a wide gap between
the ordinary people and their leaders. In a military dictatorship the soldiers are in control and they come to
power through coup. Usually, there is little or no attention to public opinion or individual rights. In a
dictatorship elections may be held but the voters have no choice to vote for. Dictators take control of the
press, business, labor unions and the Defence Forces. They may arrest and kill people without cause.

Absolute monarchy: A monarchy is a system of government where the highest authority is the hereditary
ruler called a monarchy. A monarch is a king, queen, emperor, empress, emir or sultan who usually holds
their position for life. All people living in a country with such government owe their loyalty directly to the
monarch. In an absolute monarchy, the ruler has no limits on their wishes or powers and a monarch
exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government. Those kinds of
monarchies are not democratic but absolute rulers. People are often given no individual liberties or civil
rights.

Constitutional monarchy: This is a system of government that has a monarch, but one whose powers are
limited by law or a formal constitution. The Constitution is put in place to check to powers and authority of
the monarch. A monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution whether it is a written,
uncodified or blended constitution. The monarch shares power with elected legislature which makes laws.
2. Oligarchy

This is a system of government in which they few people such as a dominant clan or clique, have power or
exercise control, the citizens have very limited role in the government. Most communist countries are
oligarchies. The group gets their power from military, wealth or social status. Elections may be held but
offer only one candidate. Examples include ancient Great City States and in China where only one party,
the communist party is allowed.

3. Democratic forms of government

In a democracy, the government is based on the consent of the people, expressed through the method of
choosing the government. People vote for leaders to be their representative to make decisions on their
behalf.

Principles/basic characteristics of democracy

 Adherence to democratic principles such as liberty, social, justice, equality of citizens and respect
for rule of law.
 Human rights: rights of all citizens are respected including the right to choose who will represent
them
 Free, fair and regular elections: For example, in Malawi, it is every five years for tripartite elections.
 Citizens' participation: consultation with the people in decision making process on issues affecting
them.
 Equality among people: nondiscrimination and equal opportunities for all citizens, regardless of the
gender, racial, ethnic and religious backgrounds or status such as having disabilities.
 Tolerance and respect for the views of others: opposing views are respected and tolerated.
 Peaceful conflict resolution: conflicts are resolved peacefully.
 Supremacy of the Constitution: government decisions are based on the Constitution of the state.
 Political pluralism or multiparty system: a multiparty offers different policies which offer citizens a
variety of choices.
 Government responsiveness: being responsible for the welfare of the people.
 Separation of powers: separation of powers and functions between the executive, the legislature
and judiciary.
 Transparency and accountability: transparency and accountability within state, its institutions,
political parties, private sectors and civil society.

Republics
A republic is a form of government which is not a monarchy and in which representatives normally form a
parliament or a national Assembly. The head of state of a republic is a president. The president may be
elected directly by the people like how it is done in Malawi or may be chosen by the national assembly as
done in Israel and Hungary. The responsibilities of citizens in a republic include the following;
  Voting for their government representatives
 Obeying the laws and helping to solve problems in their own communities.

A government system refers to the way power is distributed among national, regional and local
governments or the extent of powers exercised by the central or national government.

Types of government systems

1. Federal system or federalism

This is the system of government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central
governing authority and constituent political units. Federalism is a system based upon democratic rules and
institutions in which the power to govern is shared between national and provincial/state governments,
creating what is often called a federation. The decisions and powers are divided between two sets of
organs, one for the national and the other for local affairs or different geographical units that make up the
state. The geographical units may be called regions, provinces or even state. The states have some
powers that the federal government does not have such as the right to collect property taxes and determine
sales taxes. The national or central government also has some powers that the state does not have such
as the right to declare war and make treaties with foreign countries.

The main characteristics of federal system

 Each federal unit is independent of the other.
 Both the central government and federal units have the areas in which they work and changes in
their powers must be in line with what is spelt out in the Constitution.
 By forming a union, the different units do not lose their individual identity. They retain it and
maintain their independent characteristics.
 The different units, however, are not sovereign. The central government is responsible for issues at
national and international level
 The Constitution of a federal system is written and rigid
 There is supremacy of the Constitution
 Bicameral legislature (composed of or based two legislative Chambers or branches usually lower
and higher houses) is usually adopted by federal state.

Examples of federation include United States of America, India, Israel and German

Conditions for adopting federalism

 A country with strong cultural and ethnic differences, so federation is adopted to take into
consideration diversity of the cultures.
 Geographical proximity. Federation should assist to bring development to the door steps of the
people.
 Consideration of the fear of the minorities. So minority interests are represented.
  Economic factors. The country should be economically sound since it is expensive to run a
federation due to duplication of ministries and staff at federal, state, local government
 Size of country. Federation is suitable for countries with large area
 Security reasons. Federation assists in Manning a large country easily in terms of security.
 To create employment opportunities through duplication of responsibilities.

2. Unitary (centralized) system of government

This is the control of national and local affairs by the central or national government. In a unitary system all
decisions and powers are held at central level. For administrative purposes, the state may be divided into
different units or even regions or districts and provinces. All powers of state are vested in the central
government, which operates through various ministries and departments. Examples include: Malawi, UK,
Cuba, France, Netherlands and Spain.

Characteristics of a unitary or centralized government

 Central government is the principal power and other units of the government are its agents or
subordinates.
 Central government has all powers of authority over the entire territory. All the key powers are held
by the central government.
 Central government exercises control over all other regions and units of the government.
 Other units of the government are at a lower level in relation to the central government.
 Other units of the government may have their power increased, decreased or even withdrawn by
the central government.
 The laws, policies and administrative structures for government are the same for all units.

3. Confederation
This is a government in which the local government holds all other power and the central government
depends on the local governments for its existence. The central government has only as much as the local
governments are willing to give. Usually a confederation is regional or global body to a country may choose
to belong or not. A confederation can either be a voluntary or weak association of independent States that
agrees to follow a powerful central government. Or nations can choose to follow or not follow the lead of the
weak government. The United Nations is a good example of a confederation. The UN can only offer advice
and assistance when the member nations agree to cooperate. The UN is an international organization
organized to help the member countries cooperate on economic matters, encourage cultural exchange and
to keep peace and stability in the world. Other examples include: Confederate States of America, Russia
Federation, European Union, BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), SADC and COMESA

Features of confederation
• Component sovereign States are more powerful than the central government
  Actual power lies with the component units. State and regional authorities hold most of the powers
than the weaker central government
 The component units have constitutional rights to break away.
 Allegiance of the citizens is usually more to the component sovereign States
 Level of stability is minimal
 Component parts are sovereign. The member countries are independent and self-rule.

TOPIC 10: ELECTIONS

This is a formal and organized decision making process by which people who are legally qualified chooses
their own representatives or leaders to make binding decisions concerning policy through voting.

Types of elections
1. Primary elections: this is an election conducted to select candidates to run for the public office. Primary
elections provide the means by which political parties nominate candidates for upcoming election. Usually,
political party members who have interested to run for public offered compete in the primaries and the
winners run against nominees of other political parties in an election. Primary elections may be open or
closed. In open primary election, all voters are allowed to take part and may cast votes on a ballot of any
party. The party may require them to express their support to the party's values and pay a small
contribution to the costs of the primary. In closed primary elections, only registered members of the political
party are allowed

2. Tripartite elections: this is an election that involves holding three different elections concurrently, for
example choosing the president, parliamentary and local government at the same time.
3. General elections: this is an election that is conducted throughout the country in order to fill public
offices at the same time. In presidential system, the term is used to refer to a process where voters are
asked to choose a president and member of parliament on the same day simultaneously.

4. Runoff elections: this is an election that is conducted where no candidate wins a clear majority in an
election. It mainly involves the two candidates polling the votes in an election competing in the second
round to determine the clear winner. This is done in countries where the law requires the winner to get
absolute majority of 50 + 1% of the votes cast. They are not conducted where the law requires the winner
only to have relative majority (First Past the Post electoral system). Malawi follows the First Past the Post
electoral system.

5. By-elections: this is held to replace an elected representative who has retired, died, resigned, defected
or has been incapacitated to a point of being unable to perform his/her duties. It is an act of electing a
representative to fill a seat, which has become vacant otherwise than by dissolution of parliament or local
councils.

6. Local elections: these are elections that are conducted in order to fill public offices at the local level or
to decide local policy questions. Councilors are elected to represent their wards in the local councils (local
government). They are held every five years.

7. Referendum: it is an election in which an entire electorate is asked to vote on a particular proposal. It is

a process of referring a political or policy question to the entire electorate for a direct decision by general
vote. In Malawi, a referendum was held in 1993 to decide on whether or not the country should adopt
multiparty system of government after many years of one party rule. Many people voted for the introduction
of multiparty system in 1994.

Direct and indirect elections: direct election is the term describing a system of choosing political office
holders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person or political party that they desire to see
elected. Its advantage is that it guarantees the people the ultimate choice in who is to represent their voice.
This helps to ensure that the citizens know exactly who is representing them. Indirect election is an election
in which voters vote for those people tasked to choose representatives on their behalf. Citizens do not vote
for their representatives directly, choosing to put the decision in the hands of others. Its advantage is that
comparatively better persons can be elected because the ultimate and the direct responsibility of elections
lies in few selected individuals who are best fitted to this task. It is difficult to mislead few wise people who
feel full sense of responsibility and consider themselves accountable to popular will.

Electoral systems
Electoral system refers to the method used to count or translate votes received by candidates or political
parties to determine allocation of seats. Different electoral systems produce different kind of results and
give voters different kinds of choices.
1. First past the Post (FPP): This is also called winner-take-all system. It awards a seat to the individual
candidate who receives the most votes in an election. The candidate does not need to get a majority (50
+1) of the vote to win. He/she needs majority of votes

Main features of the FPP

 Based on the principle that the contestant with the most support ought to be elected.
 Generally require simple and transparent voting and counting processes
 Candidates are elected with a plurality of votes cast
 Main models include: single member plurality, multi-member plurality

2. Majority system: this is an electoral system that attempts to provide for a greater degree of
representativeness by requiring that candidates achieve a majority of votes in order to win an election. (50
+ 1). If no candidate gets an absolute majority, then a second round of voting (runoff election) is held. In the
second round of voting only the first two candidates who pulled most votes from the first round are allowed
to participate.

Main features of majority system

 Based on the principle that an elected representative should be elected only if he or she has the
support of more than half of the voters.
 May require preferential voting or second round of voting if there are more than two candidates
 Candidates are elected with a majority (more than 50%) of votes cast
 Main models include: alternative vote, two-round vote.

3. Proportional representation: an electoral system in which all political parties gain seats in proportion to
the number of votes cast from them. Rather than having single member constituencies the whole country or
other designated area constitutes a multi member constituency. Each political party is entitled to nominate
as many candidates.

Importance of elections
 Elections make a fundamental contribution to democratic governance. Elections enable voters to
select leaders and to hold them accountable for their performance in office.
 Elections provide political education for citizens and ensure the responsiveness of democratic
governments to the will of the people. Where the electoral process is competitive and forces
candidates or parties to expose their records and future intentions to popular scrutiny, elections
serve as a forum for the discussion of public issues and facilitate the expression of public opinion
 Elections serve to legitimize the acts of those in power, a function that is performed to some extent
even by elections that are non-competitive.
  Elections also reinforce the stability aid legitimacy of the political community by linking citizens to
each other and there by confirm the viability of the state. As a result elections help to facilitate
social and political integration.
 Participation in an election by citizens serves to reinforce their self-esteem and self respect.
 Voting gives people an opportunity to have their say and through expressing partisanship, to satisfy
their need to feel a sense of belonging.

Elections and the campaigns preceding them are events that are accompanied by rallies, banners, posters,
buttons, radios, newspaper and television advertising.

The election process in Malawi

The electoral process is a combination of all activities involved starting from planning of an election to
announcement of results

Establishment of the Electoral Commission: ensures efficient, effective and impartial organization and
conduct elections. It is an independent body that is free from any other influences. It is headed by the
chairperson who is supposed to be a judge of the high court or Supreme Court

Demarcation of boundaries for constituents and wards: the demarcation is based on population density
of an area, ease of communication and geographical features as well as administrative areas.

Registration of voters: To be eligible to register as a voter in an election, one is supposed to be a citizen,

resident of Malawi for seven years and must have attained the age of eighteen. National Identity can be
used as proof of identity and age. A person is allowed to register in their area of residence or where one
was born or is employed or doing business. Electoral Commission and the process is monitored by political
parties, civil society organization and international observers.

Nomination of candidates: candidates may run in an election as nominees of political parties or as

independent members. The Selection of candidates to stand on political party tickets may be done by
means of political party convention or caucus according to the rules of the party and any applicable laws.
The Malawi Electoral Commission appoints returning officers to receive nomination papers from the
nominated candidates in the constituents and wards.

Campaign: this is an organized effort which seeks to influence the public to vote for a particular political
party or candidate in an election. Campaign contains promise messages on policy issues which political
parties and candidates pledge if voted into office. Most candidates use radios, televisions, social gatherings
and many more. In Malawi candidates are allowed to campaign for a period of two months closing forty
eight hours before the opening of polling day. It is prohibited in places like military units, police station,
public institutions and working places during working hours.

Voters' roll verification: this process allows all those who registered to check whether their names and
other particulars have been correctly recorded in the register. Eligible voters or any citizen of Malawi may
object to names of unqualified individuals who have been included on the register.
Establishment of polling stations: polling stations are meant to facilitate the process of casting, recording
and counting of votes in an election. The Electoral Commission appoints polling station officers; one is a
presiding officer to administrate the proceedings at each polling station.

Delivery of voters' materials: the commission ensures that every polling station is supplied with all
necessary items for the smooth conduct of an election. These include; lighting equipment to be used when
counting votes at night, ballot papers and ballot boxes, voting booths, ink and many more.

Vote: this is the casting of ballot papers in the ballot box by voters to choose their representatives or
leaders. A ballot paper contains names of candidates, party names and symbols to be marked by a voter in
choosing a candidate of their choice.

Vote counting: after the close of polling, counting of votes is done by the presiding officer in the presence
of political party monitors. The presiding officer provides party representatives with the result and posts
them at the polling station. The results and al documentation are forwarded to the Returning Officer who
makes summations in the presence of the party representatives then compile the results on the basis of the
duty signed.

Certified and announcing of results: the electoral Commission certifies and announce the election
results.

Monitor: political parties or candidates in an election as well as civil society organizations are allowed to
monitor the voting process at polling stations through representatives. They observe the voting process
from voter registration to the announcement of the winners. The aim is to ensure the environment of free,
fair and credible elections.

International observation: this involves the verification of the various stages of electoral process by
foreign observers who are recognized for the purpose. These help to verify and monitor the impartiality of
the electoral body in its functions and decisions. It also assists on ensuring that the integrity of the electoral
process is respected.

Electoral complaints and petitions: any complaints and petitions from parties or persons are investigated
by Electoral Commission. If confirmed the commission takes corrective measures.

The role of voters in the electoral process

 Getting registered as a voter
 Verifying with the electoral commission that they have been registered
 Attending civic education meetings and activities in order to know what will be expected of them on
the day of election
 Attending meetings conducted by political parties and candidates in order to make informed
choices what voting.
 Going to the polling station on the day of election to cast your vote
  Maintaining peace before, during and after elections

Malawi electoral commission (MEC)

It is an independent body established under section 75 of the Constitution of the Republic of Malawi. It is
responsible for conducting free, fair, transparent and accessible elections in Malawi. The commission
comprises of the chairperson and not less than six commissioners. The chairperson is a judge nominated
by the judicial service commission. Other members are appointed by the president in consultation with
leaders of political parties represented in parliament. The commission is assisted in carrying out specific
activities by a secretariat that is headed by the Chief Elections Officer.

Duties and functions of the Electoral Commission

 Determining the number of constituents and wards for the purpose of elections
 Supervising the demarcation of wards and constituency boundaries
 Viewing existing constituency boundaries
 Organizing and directing the registration of voters
 Producing, distributing and taking charge of voters' registers and ballot papers
 Buying and distributing ballot boxes to all polling stations
 Establishing and operating polling stations
 Taking measures to ensure that necessary security conditions are established during elections
 Promoting public awareness of electoral maters through the media and other appropriate and
effective means and to conduct civic and voter education
 Conducting research into electoral matters and into any matter pertaining to its functions and to
publish the results of such research
 Ensuring that elections are free, fair and credible
 Organizing political debates for candidates in an election
 Determining electoral petitions and complaints
 TOPIC 11: PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE
This is the ability of people to live together in one society in peace and harmony. People of different races,
ethnic groups, sex, religious beliefs, political affiliation and viewpoints live side by side and harmony. It is
also referred to as competition without war.

Five principles of peaceful coexistence

1. Mutual respect for each other's territorial integrity and sovereignty by several States: a country
has to defend its own identity and it is the duty of each to respect the other countries as well. It has to
respect the other's integrity and sovereignty. A powerful country should not impose its will and obligation on
the states. Maintenance of mutual respect for other's territorial integrity and sovereignty is the first
maintenance of peace.

2. Mutual non-aggression: powerful and developed countries should allow the weak and developing
countries to develop and prosper. Strong nations do not have the power to attack upon another country to
expand its boundaries or to impose its puppet government on the weak States. Use of aggression by one
country against another country violates the principles of morality and needs to be condemned.

3. Mutual noninterference in each other's internal affairs: no state has any right to interfere in the
affairs of another state. Powerful nations need not to interfere in the affairs of women nations. Even weaker
nations have a right to defend their integrity and sovereignty. Powerful nations using their economy and
military superiority to interfere in the internal affairs of weak States angers peace and bring in
neocolonialism

4. Equality and cooperation for mutual benefit: each nation whether powerful or weak should treat other
nation's equally. This promotes peace based on equality and mutual benefit among nations which helps to
promotes cooperation between them.

5. Peaceful coexistence: instead of war, it encourages disarmament where all nations would develop by
following the path of peaceful coexistence. These move to promote democracy and human rights.

These principles have promoted the healthy and stable development of international relations, helped to
achieve justice and contributed to world peace and human progress. People have contributed to building a
new type just and equitable international relations and better world of win-win cooperation.

Forms of violence in the home, school and community

Violence is a physical action which takes place once a person becomes upset to a point of being furious
which may lead to injury. It can be characterized by:

 Self directed. This refers to violence in which the perpetrator and the victim are the same individual
and includes suicidal behavior and self-harm.
  Interpersonal violence. This includes violence inflicted against one individual by another or by a
group of individuals and can be characterized by;
a. Family and intimate partner violence such as child abuse
b. Community violence
c. Sexual violence

Violence at school: it includes violence between school students as well as physical attacks by students
on school staff bullies, gangs, weapons and substance abuse or contributes the fear experienced by
students. Violence at school may lead to personal injury, anxiety, absence and truancy that lead to
dropping out of school and delinquency. Most students are victims of violent crimes such as simple and
aggravated assault, rape and robbery, having something stolen and many more. Long term exposure to
gun violence, parental alcoholism and domestic violence, physical abuse is related to increased
aggressiveness in children which in turn may carry over into school.

Violence in homes: Domestic violence refers to acts of interpersonal violence between adult intimate
partners. The abuse can be physical, sexual, emotional or economic.

 Physical abuse includes very aggressive acts such as beatings and forced sexual activity, throwing
things, punching, and hair pulling and pushing.
 In emotional/psychological abuse, the abuser constantly humiliates and puts down the victim.
He/she uses verbal insults, foul language, threats, control of physical activity, yelling and social
isolation.
 Sexual abuse includes unwanted sexual touching, incest or rape, defilement or infecting your
partner with STIs and HIV.
 Economic violence such as property grabbing, not allowing your spouse to get employment or
engaged in business, deprivation of resources, neglect such as withhold money, affection, food,
health care or other needed care.

Violence in neighborhoods and communities cannot be overlooked are rape and incest, intimate partners
violence beating a spouse or insult, forced marriage and abduction, neglected children, cutting of body
parts, child abuse etc

Violence in the community

Community violence refers to exposure as a witness or through actual experience at acts interpersonal
violence perpetrated by individuals who are not intimately related to the victim. This includes; fights over
different religious and political views, fights over ownership of land, football hooliganism/crowd violence,
gangsters, murders and kidnappings, abduction, early and forced marriage, child labor, post election
violence etc

Ways of preventing violence in the home, school and community

1. Transparency, accountability and openness: everyone is aware and informed of the actions and motives
of others. Everyone is also involved in decision making process.

2. Inclusion: exclusion of whatever form leads to conflicts. When people feel they are included and are part
and parcel of all processes, they do not have reason to start conflicts

3. Mutual respect and tolerance: Where there is respect for the other manifest conflict processes are
minimized and conflict itself prevented. Mutual respect and respect of others ensures a lasting peace and
permanent resolution of a conflict.

4. Contact and dialogue: where two or more entities are always prepared to negotiate and achieve a win-
win situation, conflict is prevented. As student in the school you should understand decision from
administration. You should also tolerate them rather than only want your wishes to prevail.

5. Using peace keeping structures: this include, referees, arbitrators, law enforcers. They are used to
maintain peace and conflict.

6. Early warning systems: this helps to identify manifest conflict process before they become violent.

7. Respect for human rights: human rights must be respected

8. When faced with gender based violence, report them to the police, faith based leaders, marriage
counselors and community action groups in order to address gender based violence.

9. Promoting gender empowerment of women in their communities.

We must fight the societal values that reinforce the stereotypes that encourage men to act aggressively to
solve problems, children must be taught at an early age non-violent conflict resolution, there should be
more police victim support units, public must be educated to promote community and social responsibility to
stop violence and helped abused children, advocates for more arrests and stronger punishments for
offenders.

Improving family relationships: if you are being harmed by domestic violence, you seek counseling call the
police. Protect children from any abuse.
 TOPIC 12: INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS
This is a disagreement on viewpoint whether within a country or between countries but eventually seeks the
intervention of the international community.

Causes of international conflicts

1. Territorial border disputes

This means of controlling territory primarily military secession where a province of religion is leaving an
existing state. These conflicts may involve ethnic cleansing such as driving out designated ethnic
population in interstate borders. Controlling certain tracks of land can mean a lot to a country especially if
the land is important to its defense and national pride. Sometimes, countries want to extend their power by
taking over territories which do not belong to them. This may result in conflicts.

2. Control of government
This involves struggles to control territory that do not involve changing borders. They are conflicts over
which governments will control entire states. These conflicts are caused by individual list for power and
wealth. Some political leaders look forward to have power and to mass wealth. So if they are not in
government they fight to remove those ruling. If he/she is in power already, she/he clings to power by force
or military power.

3. Economic conflicts
Some countries have more resources than others. This can result in competition among countries for these
resources. Countries with fewer resources might use force to gain more especially when these resources
are necessary for survival and economic growth. These may cause conflicts.

4. Conflicts over ideological differences

Different values and beliefs among countries may cause conflicts. Countries pursuing different ideologies
can come into conflict if they see that their ideological beliefs are threatened. This is associated with naval
or military power. Some nations accumulate power in terms of navy and military power to themselves and
when another nation sprung up to start accumulating power, the power holders feel threaten and seeks to
subdue the rising nation. This ends in conflict.

Ethnic conflict: a conflict may rise when one ethnic group may either impose its superiority over another
or reject the others traditions. In most cases one ethnic group found it discriminated against by the other
group when it comes to political privileges such as running the government and controlling resources.

Religious conflicts: different religious beliefs may also cause conflicts.

Effects of conflicts on development

  Influx of refugees
 Famine and food insecurity, because during wars people do not concentrate on development
activities like agriculture.
 Injuries such as maiming of body parts by land mines. This increases the number of disabled
people and increase in spending on health.
 Loss of life because during wars many people are killed and wars claim more of men's lives leaving
behind helpless women and fatherless children.
 Effect on country's infrastructure through the destruction of poverty. A lot of property and
infrastructure is destroyed during wars such as houses, bridges, shops, factories etc.
 Low industrial development and waste of resources. Countries instead of concentrating on
industrial development and economic growth they spend a lot of money on importation of weapons
or arms and pay salaries or wages of soldiers
 Low literacy rates. During conflicts, schools close down as the result many people may remain
uneducated and illiterate. Cost of education rise because of security expenditure to ensure schools
are safe.
 Creation of a violent society. Prolonged wars lead to ungovernable society with violent youth,
especially children who have known wars throughout their lives.
 Financial instability due to the fall in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and fall in reserves due to
poor country's image.

TOPIC 13: REFUGEE CRISIS IN AFRICA AND THE WORLD

A refugee is a person who has been forced to leave their country to foreign country in order to seek safety
and preserve freedom from problems or dangers such as war, political oppression, religious persecution,
natural disasters and economic reasons. The person is entitled to the protection of international law.

Asylum seekers (asylees) are people who fled from their country, often for political reasons or because of
war but are not accepted yet as refugees. They are not protected by the international laws.

Stateless person (statelessness) refers to the condition of an individual who is not considered a national by
any state. He/she has no citizenship or nationality.
Causes of statelessness
 Inequitable laws: many states do not allow their female citizens who are married to foreigners to
confer nationality to their children.
 State succession: some people have become stateless when their state of nationality ceased to
exist or when the territory on which they lived came under the control of another state.
 Non-state territories: only states can have nationals. As a result people who are citizens of non-
state territories are stateless which include for instance, occupied territories where statehood has
ceased to exist or never emerged in the first place.
 Individuals may also become stateless when they renounce or withdraw their citizenship rights.
 Lack of birth registration

Impacts of refugees in the world

Economic impacts
 Refugees compete with the local citizens for scarce resources and therefore put pressure on such
resources as land, water, food, housing and medical services. This may lead to increase in
demand for natural resources, education, transportation, health care, electricity and employment.
Increased demand for food and other commodities can lead to prices rises in the market which will
stimulate local economic activity but may not benefit the poorest people in the community. It leads
to distortion of markets as prices of food and commodities rise. It also leads to depression of local
wage rates.
 It puts pressure on the national public and social welfare budgets. Host country divert resources
and man power from pressing demands of their own departments to the urgent task of keeping
refugees alive, alleviating their sufferings and ensuring the security of the whole community.
 Refugees bring and provide their skills and knowledge that can be utilized to the benefit of local
people by working and contributing to the host economy.
 Refugees access transnational resources provided by other refugees of co-nationals living abroad
through social networking.
 Presence of refugees can somewhat contribute to the creation to the creation of employment
benefitting the local population directly and indirectly.
 An economy stimulus may be generated by the presence of the refugees and can lead to opening
and development of the host regions through local purchase of food, non-food, shelter materials by
agencies supplying relief items. It also increases demand for products and goods which raises
prices and standard of living in and around the refugee camp

Environmental impacts
 Deforestation and firewood depletion. When refugees arrive at a camp, they need timber for
construction purpose and for cooking.
  Increased environmental degradation which includes land degradation, soil erosion and decreased
soil fertility and therefore threatening the food security of the local community who depend on
farming for survival.
 Unsustainable ground water extraction thereby making the host community’s water supply to be
compromised and therefore to people travel long disasters to get water
 Water pollution leading to lack of portable water.

Social impacts
 Leads to ethnic imbalance as well as social conflict.
 Leads to inequalities between refugees and non-refugees that give to social tension. For example,
refugees may receive better social services than the local can do.
 Serious social integration problems and cultural differences and resentment about a lot of things;
dressing, water use, public life and employment.
 If the refugees are from the different ethnicity traditional animosities may exist between groups.
Failures in communication and understanding caused by language and or culture can form serious
barriers and exacerbate conflicts.
 Refugees have added to security problems and crime rates, prostitution and alcoholism
 The host community may benefit from assistance programs such as infrastructures and welfare

Political and security impacts

 Their presence accelerates existing internal conflicts in the host countries
 It provides sanctuary to rebel organizations and a base from which to carry out their operation.

Conventions for the protection of refugees and stateless person

The 1951 UN convention relating to the status of refugees: it covers important aspects of life of
refugees.

The 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees: this protocol removed the geographical and
temporal limitations written in the original 1951 refugee convention under which mainly Europeans involved
in events occurring before 1951 could apply for the refugee status. This broadens the scope to create
capacity to respond to new refugees.

1954 convention relating to the status of the stateless persons: This recognizes the international legal
status of stateless persons and demands that they enjoy human rights without discrimination. It also states
that they should have access to travel documents, identity papers and acceptable standards of human
treatment.

The 1961 convention on the reduction of statelessness: this recognizes that the scourge of
statelessness could be prevented through the passage of nationality legislation and universal birth
registration in countries around the world. This convention allows for stateless people to acquire citizenship
in those countries they are linked to through birth and decent.

The 1969 African Union convention governing the specific aspects of refugee’s problems in Africa:
it recognized the international cooperation including burden sharing in tackling the problem.

The 1984 cartagena declaration: this is a regional treaty which a group of Latin American government
adopt. It added more objectively based on the significant consideration to the 1951 refugee convention

Challenges faced when implementing conventions for the protection of refugees and
stateless persons
 Inadequate financial, material and technical resources available which stretch social and economic
structures, community services and environments of host communities or countries in order to host
more numbers of refugees.
 The convention recognizes the right to seek asylum but does not oblige states to provide it. Some
governments restrict the flow of asylum seekers into their countries by detaining and refuse to
resettle them and force them to return home.
 Under conditions of conflict such as continuing armed conflicts, political violence and human rights
abuses, it is difficult to provide protection and assistance to refugees since the humanitarian
assistance may be diverted to fuel conflicts. Conditions of conflicts may also hinder the delivery of
protection and prevent the return of refugees to their homes.
 There is declining financial and material resources for refugee program in Africa from developed
countries. Developed countries are not following the principle of international solidarity and burden
sharing.

TOPIC 14: SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

These are the effects of economic downturn or declining economy which may be caused by widespread
failures in financial regulations and supervision. An economic recession leads to high levels of household
debt, trade imbalance and high unemployment.

Examples of social economic problems

Unemployment
It arises when factors of production that are willing and able to produce goods and services are not actively
engaged in production. Unemployment is a problem because;

 Less output is produced hence the economy is less able to address the scarcity problem.
 The owner of unemployed resources receives less income and hence has lower living standards.

Stagnant growth
It arises because the supply of aggregate production is not increasing at desired pace or is even declining.
Stagnant or lack of growth in the economy exists if total production does not keep pace with population
demand and hence living standards decline.

Inflation
This is the rate at which the general level of prices for goods and services is rising in an economy over a
period of time and subsequently purchasing power is falling. When the general price level rises, each unit
of currency buys fewer goods and services. Consequently, inflation reflects a reduction in the purchasing
power per unit of money. The chief measure of price inflation is the inflation rate, the annual percentage
change in a general price index (Consumer Price Index) and Producer Price Index (PPI) over time.

Causes and types of inflation

Inflation can be classified into four types according to the rate of inflation;

 Moderate inflation (less than 10%)

 Running inflation (10 to 20%)
 Galloping inflation (20 to 100%)
 Hyperinflation (100% plus)

High rates of inflation and hyperinflation are caused by an excessive growth of the money supply. A long
sustained period of inflation is caused by money supply growing faster than the rate of economic growth.

Two types of inflation

1. Demand pull inflation: This happens when prices rise in response to an excess of aggregate demand
over existing supply of goods and services. Caused of demand pull inflation are increase in public
expenditure, increase in investment and increase in money supply.

2. Cost push inflation: It is induced by a rise in the cost of production. Causes of cost push inflation are;
increase in wages, increase in cost of materials and mark-up.

The cost or effects of inflation

 Redistribution of income/wealth; where fixed-income earners, savers and lenders are adversely
affected.
 Uncertainty over future inflation and lack of investment; businesses cannot estimate their costs
hence they hesitate to invest and therefore may discourage investment and savings.
 Deteriorating external position; exports fall (they become less competitive) and imports rise (they
become cheaper).
 Extra resources are required to cope with inflation.
 Greater uncertainty surrounds long-run planning, especially the purchaser of durable goods and
capital goods.
 An increase in the opportunity cost of holding money which prolongs inflation.
 If inflation were rapid enough, shortage of goods as consumers begin hoarding out of concern that
prices will increase in the future.
 As the cost of goods and services increase, the value of a currency is going to fall because a
person would not be to purchase as much with that currency as she/he previously could. This
reduces financial wealth and lowers living standards.

Positive effects of inflation include ensuring that central banks can adjust real interest rates and
encouraging investment in nonmonetary capital projects.

Devaluation
This is modern monetary policy is a reduction in the value of a currency with respect to those goods,
services or other monetary policy tool of countries that have a fixed exchange.

Over-indebtedness
This describes the situation in which borrowers, including individuals, companies and countries, have
borrowed more money than they are able to pay back. It implies a complete liability.

Budget surplus (+) or deficit (-)

This is the difference between national government revenues and expenditures, expressed as a percent of
GDP. A positive (+) number indicates that revenues exceeded expenditures (a budget surplus), while a
negative (-) number indicates the reverse (a budget deficit). Countries with high budget deficits generally
have more difficulty raising funds to finance expenditures than those with lower deficits.

Balance of trade
This is the difference between a country's imports and its exports. Debt items include imports, foreign aid,
domestic spending abroad and domestic investments abroad. Credit items include exports, foreign
spending in the domestic economy. A country has a trade deficit if it imports more than it exports.

Meaning of devaluation
This means a deliberate downward adjustment of the value of a country's currency. Depreciation is a
decrease in a currency's values due to market forces (supply and demand) not government or central bank
policy actions/activities. Devaluation implies an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a
fixed exchange rate system by which the monetary authority formally sets a new fixed rate with respect to a
foreign reference currency. In contrast, depreciation is used for the unofficial increase in the exchange rate
in a floating exchange rate system. Devaluation occurs in a fixed exchange rate. Depreciation occurs in a
floating exchange rate system.

Two main classes of devaluation are planned policies and reactions to market events/forces.

Types of devaluation
 Planned devaluation
 Market driven devaluation

Planned devaluation is brought about almost exclusively by government decisions to reduce the relative
value of a currency, usually intended as a means to some improvement in the country's trading position.

Market driven devaluation is the formal recognition by a relative to major world currencies especially

Dollar has already depreciated through trading in the foreign exchange markets.

Objectives of devaluation

 To relieve an unfavorable balance of trade and stabilize the economy

 Correcting the price distortions and to make commodity prices, especially the prices of farm
products, rise in terms of domestic money or at least to check their further drop
 To increase competitiveness in the foreign markets and to encourage exports and to reduce
imports
 To raise national income and per capita income and achieve higher standards of living.
 Close the development gap
  Restriction on commodities as well as capital flows as in government policies on high tariffs on
imports.
 To attract more foreign tourists and to make it more expensive for the country's own citizens to visit
foreign countries.

Effects of devaluation
1. Devaluation reduces the export price in term of foreign currencies in the world market. As a result the
exports are increased so as to increase all efforts are made to increase the production of the country.
When a country devalues its currency, its exports become cheaper for other countries to buy and it
becomes more foreign currency into the country that devalued its currency and to increase the amount of
debt that other nations owe that country.

2. Devaluation means imports will become more expensive. This will reduce demand for imports. Due to
devaluation the price of imported goods in terms of foreign currency goes up. So the prices of the
commodities are increased because of increase in the price of imported machinery and raw materials. The
imports are reduced.

3. Devaluation could cause higher economic growth resulting to higher exports and lower imports.

4. Inflation is likely to occur because:

 Imports are more expensive causing cost push inflation.

 Aggregate demand is increasing causing demand pull inflation
 With exports becoming cheaper manufacturers may have less incentive to cut costs and become
more efficient. Therefore over time, costs may increase

5. With exports more competitive and imports more expensive, we should see higher exports and lower
imports which will reduce the current account deficit.

6. Devaluation may dampen investor confidence in the country's economy and hurt the country's ability to
secure foreign investment.

7. When the revenues are increased due to an increase in exports, payments are reduced due to decrease
in imports. As a result, the balance of payment of the country is corrected.

8. Foreigners find it cheaper to invest in devaluating country so it tends to increase the investment of
foreign capital

9. Devaluation makes currency smuggling unprofitable. It also discourages smuggling of other goods.

10. When a country devalues its currency, it becomes more expensive for that country to pay off
outstanding debts owed in other currencies.
11. Devaluation protects domestic industries from the pressure of foreign competition. However, this lack of
pressure of competition may sometimes make these domestic industries become less efficient.

Causes and effects of over-indebtedness

 Deterioration of economic conditions in form of low economic growth or economic stagnation,
increase of unemployment, inflation and higher expenditure and lower or untimely income flows
(poverty). Poverty forces individuals to borrow.
 Evolution of an easy credit culture which includes overestimation of own repayment capacity, lax
discipline in repayment of loans, expectations toward creditors to solve the problem.
 Fierce competition among credit providers
 Riskier lending as persuasive sales techniques, quicker disbursements and relaxing assessment of
repayment capacity.
 Fast institutional growth involving less experienced staff, lower quality of capacity building for
middle management and inadequate internal controls.
 Lack of financial industry standards (code of conduct).
 Lack of transparency on client indebtedness such as late arrival of credit bureau and multiple
clients borrowing from multiple institutions.
 Capital inflow to banking and microfinance sectors due to abundant debt funding available.
 Investor's expectations of scale, market share and profitability including incentivized unsustainable
practices and neglected thorough assessment of real finance demand and capacity.
 Irresponsible borrowing
 Decrease in income following a job loss, illnesses and increase in expenses due to expanding
family
 Predatory and reckless lending
 Excessive finance and collection charges
 Uneducated and ignorant borrowers leading to unproductive and wasteful expenditure of loans.
 Some of the debt may be inherited

Implications of over indebtedness

 Over indebtedness can result in the following behaviors: employees resigning to gain access to
retirement funds in order to pay for the living costs and outstanding debt; employees resigning to
escape from garnishes deductions which cause them to go home with insufficient pay; employees
resorting to desperation theft at the workplace to pay for the living costs.
 Increased employees stress, resulting in increased mental and physical absenteeism and reduced
productivity levels. Consumers with higher debt-stress are more likely to experience health
problems.
 It causes substantial increase in the number of evictions and homelessness as well as
development of squatter settlement.
  Increases the financial crisis in which businesses are weakened by their bankrupt clients' failure
pay.
 Causes deterioration in households' social and economic well-being thus leading in the long term
to social exclusion and poverty.
 The income of farmers is mostly spent for repayment of loans and are dispossessed of their land
by money lenders.

Credit reference bureau (CRB)

These are institutions that collect, consolidate and process information relating to credit history of persons
in order to facilitate exchange of such information among user institutions on their clients' repayment history
and current debt profiles including information on their identity, credit accounts and loans, bankruptcies and
late payments and recent inquiries. Other information shared include: proven frauds and forgeries; kiting,
false declarations and statements, receiverships, liquidations, use of false securities and misapplication of
borrowed funds. Credit bureaus are information brokers, providing creditors with reliable, relevant and
comprehensive data on their repayment habits and current debt of their credit applicants. Under reciprocity
agreements, credit bureaus obtain data from creditors and other sources, consolidate and package
information into individual reports and distribute it to creditors for a free. The borrower could be individuals,
businesses, companies, sole proprietor and government entities. This helps lenders assess credit
worthiness, the ability to pay back a loan.

Mandates of credit bureaus as outlined in the CRB Act

 Collection of information (s13)
 Establish controls and procedures (s15) to ensure quality of database and to preserve
confidentiality of information
 Retention of credit information for 7 years (s21)
 May levy fees (in Malawi kwacha) (s22) upon approval of the registrar and agreed upon by the user
and bureau.
 Provide access to account holder of his/her history (s23) free of charge if the information viewed on
screen and pay is applicable fees if print out is needed.
 Correct information on its database upon being requested to review by account holder once
information is determined outdated, inaccurate, deficient, erroneous or illegal (s24)

Benefits of CRB

 Fast loan processing- reduce searching cost and reduce information asymmetries. Bureaus would
help commercial banks stop wasting time and resources trying to establish history of customers.
 Increased access to finance based on reputation collateral at lower interest rates. It helps
individuals or borrowers without collateral to secure credit.
  Improved credit culture through reduced incidence of multiple and excessive borrowings. It leads to
better payment behavior on the part of borrowers for fear of being denied credit
 Enhanced risk management through effective credit evaluation and administration. This contributes
to stability of the financial sector
 Expanded access to credit by allowing creditors to differentiate good and bad credit risks.
 Ensure that bad debt costs are kept to a minimum and cash flows are maintained and prevented
measures are taken.
 Stimulate economic development by making lending and borrowing easier faster and cheaper.
 Supports an increased level of trust between lenders and borrowers resulting in an increased
volume of credit in the economy.

Roles of CRB

 They enable lenders to lend to more and better risk clients and to determine better, the bad loan
spread that they need to cover expected losses of credit to good payers
 Credit bureaus reduce the borrowing cost by forcing creditors to be more competitive for good
borrowers
 They reduce moral hazard by developing a credit culture where they operate as borrowers become
aware that credit market becomes aware of their credit history and rewards or punishes them
accordingly.

TOPIC 15: INTERDEPENDENCE IN THE ECOSYSTEM

Ecosystem refers to a community of living organism (plants, animals, people and microbes) in conjunction with the
non living components of their environment (air, water, soil and minerals) interacting as a system

Two major processes of ecosystem

1. Energy flow

2. Nutritional cycling
These two processes which are driven by the sun's energy help to link the components parts of the ecosystem hence
their interdependence. An ecosystem therefore provides the food chain through which energy flows and the biological
cycles that recycle essential nutrients and wastes.

Energy flow
This involves the fixing of light energy in green plants (photosynthesis) and the passing of this energy
through the ecosystem as food along a food chain.

Energy Products Consumer Consumer Consumer

from the autotrophy Herbivores Carnivores Omnivores
sun (self- (Primary) (secondary (Tertiary (Consumer)
feeders) consumer) consumer)

Food web
In a food web, plants are called Producers because they produce their own food by using energy from
the sunlight. Most animals cannot make their own food. They must eat something else in order to get
energy to live and grow. They are called consumers. Some animals eat plants. They are called
herbivores. Animals that eat meat are called carnivores. Omnivores like humans eat both plants and
animals. Some animals like earthworms eat bits of plants and animals that are dead, rotten or other
animals' droppings. They are called decomposers. Fungi and microorganisms are also decomposers. The
nutrients go back into the soil where they can be used again by plants to help them grow.

Nutrient cycling
This refers to the circulation of chemical elements from the environment to organism and back again to the
environment

Photosynthesis
Removes carbon
dioxide in air

Respiration and
combustion releases carbon
dioxide into the atmosphere
 Nitrogen returned as ammonia from
decayed or organic matter and
excreta, bacteria convert ammonia
into nitrate

Nitrate in
Passed into
the soil
herbivore/omni
vores

Nitrate built up by roots of

plants into proteins

The organisms in a habitat depend on each other. Animals need plants for food, for shelter from the
weather and as hiding places from predators. Without plants there would be no animals for carnivores to
eat. Plants need animals to pollinate their flowers to spread their seeds and help keep the soil fertile. For
instance, butterflies feed on nectar hence pollinating the flowers by accident at the same time.
Decomposers get energy by breaking down the dead plant and animal materials and at the same time they
release nutrients necessary for plant growth. Without decompress, such as worms, there would be a
shortage of minerals in the soil. The plants would not grow well and then there would be less food for all.

Ways in which people, living and non living things depend on each other
Water

All living things need water to grow and survive. It supports life since every living cell of every living thing
needs water for sustenance. If there was no water there would not be life on earth and an ecosystem would
not exist. In plants, water dissolves minerals for health growth and for cooling during hot. Water is an agent
of erosion. Rain water, river water, freezing and thawing water can break up amount of rock into small
fragments, forming some of the building materials of soil. Water in the atmosphere affects the climate as in
cloud formation that can produce snow and rain. Clouds can also reflect sunlight away from the earth,
producing a cooling effect. For people, water is for domestic and industrial use. People need portable water
for drinking, cooking or washing clothes. In industry, water is divided between different users such as
agriculture, manufacturing industry, mining, water supply, hydroelectric power generation and tourism and
transport requirements.

Animals
Wild animals provide people with food as well as for tourist attraction, medicinal use and educational value
through visits to their habitats. Animals also help plants in pollination and seed dispersal. Through
decomposers, animals promote nutrient cycle to provide plants with the much needed minerals. Animals
are also an important component of carbon cycle which renews gases. In addition, by feeding on plants and
others, animals play an important role in the movement of matter in the ecosystem.

Plants

Plants provide food and shelter to animals and birds. Plants provide all the food that animals including
people eat. It provides shelter and safety for animals. Plants make oxygen as they make their own food
brought about as a product of photosynthesis. Plants help in the making and protecting the soil from
erosion. Decomposed plants also help to make the soil rich with nutrients. The roots of plants help to hold
the soil together so help protecting it from erosion. Plants also help to protect water catchment areas or
watersheds. Plants also provide useful products for people, food, and fiber for clothing, medicines and
energy needs, timber and Poles for construction.

Soil

Soil is a home of animals and plants. For people, it provides a basis for food production. Soil sustains life
by helping plants to grow. It also provides anchorage to plants. It also harbors worms, beetles, fungi and
bacteria which facilitate decomposition and provide plants with nutrients they need.

Air

Air such as oxygen is for breathing in animals and plants for health body processes. Air also helps to create
weather. Air keeps the temperature warm by absorbing energy from the sun for the comfort of plants and
animals. The air ozone layer helps to reduce the amount of harmful ultraviolet radiation which if it reaches
the earth's surface causes skin bans and cancer. Air transfers sound or warning screams from one
individual to another hence aiding communication. Air in form of wind assists pollination in plants and seed
dispersal. To humans, air provides a means of transport through aircrafts.
 TOPIC 16: PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Effects of negative attitudes towards the environment
Negative attitude towards the environment can be defined as making little or no effort to improve the
environment and performing that acts that continue to hurt or destroy the environment. It may result in
irresponsible human behavior. Negative attitudes are a result of many factors and experiences that an
individual or community go through and include:

 Conflicts with resource managers due to resource extraction.

 Strict rules on resource use and access as fish or forests.
 Rude behavior or harassment by forest reserve or pack rangers.
 Fear of resettlement and lack of provision of jobs.
 Lack of involvement of the local community in the local decision making processes and in forest
management groups.

Local costs created by protected areas include human and wildlife conflicts, land pressure, loss of
resources and forfeited economic opportunities can determine overall negative attitudes.

Effects of negative attitudes towards the environment

1. Environmental pollution (air, water and land pollution)

Air pollution: it occurs when any harmful gases, dirty smoke enters into the atmosphere and makes it
difficult for plants, animals can humans to survive as the air becomes dirty. Air pollutants cause acid rain
ozone depletion, photochemical smog and other phenomena I.e. higher rates of asthma (respiratory
disease), eutrophication, global warming and climate change. It changes the natural composition and
chemistry of their air. Sources of air pollution include: vehicle or industry exhausts, forest fires, dry soil
erosion, building construction or demolition, noise from traffic, railroads and bars. Noise may lead to
hearing loss and wildlife disturbances. Burning of fossil fuels affects agricultural activities, mining
operations.

Water pollution: involves any contaminated water from chemical, particulate or bacterial matter that
degrades the water's quality or purity. It can occur in rivers, lakes, ocean and underground reservoirs.
Causes of water pollution include: increased sediment from soil erosion, improper waste disposal and
littering nuclear power plant leakage, uranium mining leaching of soil pollution into water supply for
irrigation, death of fish and other wildlife. Radiation can cause birth defects, cancer and sterilization.

Land or soil pollution: this is contamination of the soil that prevents natural growth and balance in the
land whether it is used for cultivation, habitation or wildlife preserve. Source of soil pollution include:
hazardous waste and sewerage spills, non sustainable farming practices, mining, deforestation, household
dumping and littering. Land pollution can lead to poor growth and reduced crop yields, loss of wildlife
habitat, water and visual pollution, soil erosion and desertification.
 2. Over fishing

This is a form of over exploitation in which fish stocks are depleted to unacceptable level. With overfishing
we are losing species and the entire ecosystem as well as under stress and at risk of collapse. In addition
we are in risk of losing a valuable food source many depend upon for social, economic or dietary reasons.

3. Deforestation

It is causing biodiversity to decline as wildlife is deprived of habitat and becomes more vulnerable to
hunting. It also causes global greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming and climate change.
Deforestation leads to disrupted water cycle, increases soil erosion and therefore disrupted livelihoods.
This is due to decreasing crop yield as a result of loss of soil fertility.

4. Bush fires

They destroy the vegetative cover. A large wildfire also causes mass destruction of wildlife, valuable
infrastructure as well as injecting huge amounts of smoke into the atmosphere which pollute the air.

5. Inappropriate agricultural practices (methods)

This refers to the use of land in ways which could be suitable if properly managed but the practices do not
soil conservation measures where they are needed. The available pieces of land are cultivated year after
year without using appropriate agricultural practices. The result is deterioration in the chemical, physical
and biological properties of soil eventually rendering it unproductive. Soil is degraded by poor farming
practices with no proper soil conservation measures such as non application of manure. It also happens
due to cultivation on steep slopes and river catchment areas leading to excessive runoff and erosion,
application of inappropriate type of fertilizers, overgrazing and overstocking.

The effects of these bad practices include soil erosion, declining soil fertility because of mono-cropping and
desertification. So the smallholder households employ inappropriate land practices and engage in
agricultural production on unsustainable land. These accelerate extensive loss of soil and climate change.

6. Improper waste disposal and management

Poor discharge of waste materials from industries and homes leads to environmental pollution of water, air
and land.

7. Poaching and encroaching on national parks, game reserve

Effects of positive attitude towards the environment

A positive attitude towards the environment can be defined as making a conscientious attempt to improve
the state of the environment.

Afforestation and re-forestation

Afforestation ensures that trees and plants that hold the soil in sensitive areas (water catchments and river
zone) remain protected. Afforestation through agro forestry provides a supply of timber, fruits and fodder for
cattle apart from crop production, prevents soil erosion, enables better retention of water and shields crops
from excessive wind and sun damage. Trees also help to check atmospheric carbon dioxide and therefore
help curb global warming and climate change. So people should be committed and take leading roles in
curbing the environmental degradation.

Fish management

This refers to ways of protecting fishery resources so that sustainable exploitations are possible or to
ensure the continued productivity of the resources. The goal for fish management is to create and protect
sustainable fisheries. Fish management involves regulating when, where and how many fishermen can
catch to ensure that they will be able to fish now and for generations to come. Some measures for
conserving or managing fish resources include:

 Prevention of water pollution and overfishing

 Enforcing and observing off season regulations
 Empowering the community leaders to promote enforcement of fishing regulations
 Promoting fishing and alternative business opportunities to people engaged in fishing
 Planting trees along river banks to maintain high water levels
 Teaching people proper fishing practices

Forest management

This involves providing a forest the proper care so that it remains healthy and vigorous and provides the
products and the amenities the land owner desires. It ensures that forest resources are preserved to meet
the needs of future generations. Some measures for conserving forest resources include:

 Preventing bushfires and wanton cutting down trees and civic educating the public on the dangers
of these practices.
 Reforestation: Establish public and private forest reserves
 Not practicing overstocking and overgrazing
 Setting, enforcing and observing laws regulating the use of forest resources
 Empowering the local leaders to regulate the use of forest resource
 Promoting community involvement in forest management both in forest reserves and on customary
land
 Educating people about the importance of forest conservation

Land management

This refers to the way land resources including soil, water, animals and plants are used for the production
of goods to meet changing human needs while ensuring the long-term productive potential of these
resources and the maintenance of their environmental functions. Some of the measures for conserving land
resources include:

 Preventing bushfires, overstocking and overgrazing.

 Planting trees and grass to avoid soil erosion
 Following good husbandry practices such as crop rotation, agro-forestry
 Rehabilitation of vacated marginal land

Reducing air, water and land pollution

This is the process of contaminating the environment such that it is unhealthy to live in. It is the dumping of
waste substances and energy into the air, water and on land in such quantities that human health and other
living things are harmed. Pollution has severe effects including loss of biodiversity, acid rain, ozone layer
depletion, global warming and climate change and loss of natural scenic beauty. Measures to control or
prevent pollution include:

 Proper waste disposal

 Using clean or alternative sources such as wind or solar
 Recycling and reusing of resource wastes
 Planting more trees
 Enforcement of laws and international agreements on industrial waste management and to protect
the environment
 Civic education on the dangers of environmental pollution.
 TOPIC 17: COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE
Courtship is a period during which prospective marriage partners get to know and understand each other
before marriage. It is during courtship that those in love make informed decision whether to commit
themselves to each other for life in the form of marriage or not.

Different ways of courting

Direct approach: this involves a girl or boy proposing to start a romantic relationship by talking face to
face, writing a letter or making a phone call upon getting attracted. Some people may arrange for a private
meeting in a restaurant or some other place to discuss the possibility of starting a romantic relationship.
When the response is positive, the two may have several meetings to consolidate the relationship.

Through a friend or relative: some people use intermediaries such as a friend or relative because they
feel shy to propose a person. Thereafter, they may arrange to have a meeting to start courting so as to
cement the relationship.

Using social media: some people use social media to proposal a marriage partner. They may exchange
photos and discuss possibilities of having a romantic relationship through social media such as Face book,
WhatsApp, newspaper, radio and television.

Basic steps involves in courtship

 Courtship
 Communication
 Attraction
 Encounter

Things to look for and discuss during courtship

 Love: this is because love answers all. Fundamentally, when love is there, you can imagine any
other thing working out.
 Tolerance: ability to tolerate each other during the Courtship period will determine your ability to
coexist after the wedding.
 Money: you need to establish and verify that there is a proper source of income to support your
marriage during courtship.
 Health: during courting, you must as a matter of importance, determine the health status of your
intending spouse. It is important for both of you to go for HIV testing. Furthermore, there is need to
establish whether or not your prospective marriage partner has any other long term health problem
that may have a bearing on your life in Marriage.
 Settlement: it is also very important to discuss and agree, during courtship, on the possible
settlement for you once you are married.
  Children: if you want children out of the relationship, you need to start planning and discussing
during courtship not when you are already married.
 Individual potentials and setbacks: during courtship, try and understand the potentials and
weaknesses of your intending spouse. Learn his or her personality and understand his or her
temperedness.

Importance of courtship
 It helps you to know and understand each other for marriage. The fact that both of you come from
different backgrounds means that you are different in some ways. This is the time that prospective
marriage partners discover each other's personality, likes and dislikes. They also know what
changes both of them of them need to make to have a successful marriage.
 It helps you make an informed decision on whether to proceed into marriage or not. Certain things
about your partner that can make you stay or quit the relationship are revealed during courtship.
One has the opportunity to see his or her partner for who they are and to know their ability to
handle different situations that may occur in marriage. Certain hidden personality traits of one's
partner are exposed during courtship.
 It helps strengthen your relationship. The more you spend together the more circumstances you go
through and find solutions together. These circumstances increase the bond and intimacy between
you and your partner.
 It helps couples to resolve any important difference between them before marriage. Differences
that have the potential to damage the relationship are resolved during courtship.
 It helps prospective marriage partners to know each other's values and interests. This enables
them to establish their common values and interests for a strong relationship and lasting marriage.
 It enables the couple to lay a foundation for the kind of marriage they want to have. They may
discuss issues to do with their preferred size of family, desired location for settlement, sources of
income and lifestyle.
 It enables the couple to know each other's parents and relatives

Marriage
This is a socially, culturally and legally recognized Union between a man and a woman as husband and
wife.

Factors to consider when choosing a marriage partner

 Common interests: when you decide to spend your life with someone, you must look at things
that the two of you would love to do together. Selecting someone who shares a lot of common
interests with you leads to a strong relationship.
 Compatibility of your character or personality: a marriage partner should be someone whose
character or personality suits your own so that you can get on well together.
  Education: choosing someone whose educational background is similar to yours is more likely to
lead to a happy marriage. This reduces conflicts regarding the partner's type of work, social and
economic status.
 Health status: it is important to establish if your partner has short-term or long-term health
problems which may require you to look after them. You may wish to go for testing to know
whether or not have partner is carrying sexually transmitted disease including HIV/AIDS. One
needs to make a decision whether to marry their partner or not based on their status.
 Religious beliefs: ideally, choosing someone who holds the same religious beliefs as yours and
praying together as a couple is something that adds another level of closeness to a relationship. A
spiritual mismatch can create a relational disconnect deep in the marriage and potentially could
lead to disaster as it undermines true closeness. However, marriage partners may agree to have
one of them renounce his or her religious beliefs and follow the other. Sometimes they may agree
to hold different religious beliefs and allow their children to follow one of them.
 Knowledge and skills: a god marriage partner should process certain knowledge and skills that
are critical for your survival. These may include growing crops, rearing animals, coking, making
storage barns and building a house. Hardworking spirit need to be considered when choosing a
marriage partner.
 Trustworthiness: it is extremely important to choose someone you can trust. You cannot lead a
happy marriage if you cannot trust each other.
 Respectfulness: you cannot spend your life with someone who has no respect for you or your
dreams/goals or your personality.
 Ability to initiate a conversation: it is important to choose somebody who you can easily strike a
conversation with. This way, you can enjoy doing things and talking about them together without
getting bored.

Ways in which people should prepare for marriage

 Taking a pre-marriage mentoring lesson. It is important for prospective marriage partners to
explore their questions about marriage from a seasoned married couple. This is a learning process,
a relational connection to the knowledgeable and experienced.
 Avoiding premarital sex: this helps the couple to avoid unplanned pregnancy that might force
them to marry earlier than planned. Furthermore, the couple cannot run the risk of contracting
sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS which may lead to ill health and death.
 Going for HIV testing and counseling: it helps to learn about HIV status and to make informed
decision regarding their sexual relationship and the viability of their marriage.
 Having a long period of courtship: this enables the couple to know each other better before they
finally decide to get into marriage
 Securing a house: this assures the couple of having a proper home where they will live to enjoy
their marriage
  Establish financial stability: couples need money to buy food, clothes and to stay for medical
expenses, education and utility bills. They should therefore make sure that they have stable
sources of income before getting into marriage

Different ways through which people enter into marriage

 Traditional customary marriage: traditional marriage involves a man proposing love to a potential
marriage partner. When the proposal is accepted, the man informs the uncle who becomes the
advocate and forms the delegation to meet the woman's parents to officially formalize the marriage
proposal. This is followed by the chinkhoswe engagement ceremony. In patrilineal societies, the
bride price known as lobola is paid to the bride's parents. The groom takes his bride home to live
together. In matrilineal societies, a token known as chiwongo or chikole may be paid to parents as
a symbol of booking their daughter as a future wife.
 Cohabitation and elopement: cohabitation is an arrangement where a man and a woman who
are not married live together in a sexually intimacy relationship on a long term or permanent basis.
It usually refers to unmarried couples who live together without formally registering their relation as
a marriage and may have children. Elopement is arrangement in which a man and a woman agree
to get married secretly without going through the traditional engagement ceremony. They run away
and start living together as husband and wife. In most cases, elopement and cohabitation occur to
a number of factors such as:
a. Proper marriage preparation process may be too long and costly for the partners
b. Premarital sex during courtship may have led to unwanted pregnancies thereby forcing them into
un procedural marriage to take care of the pregnancy
c. Refusal by some members of the family or the community
d. Partners may want to have a second marriage secretly after running away from their marriage.
 Civil marriage: marriage that takes place without any religious affiliation and meets the legal
requirements. Sometimes the marriage ceremony can be officiated by the mayor or chairperson of
the civic council.
 Christian marriage: this is preceded by the traditional engagement ceremony followed by
preparations for the wedding. The wedding is announced by the church minister, pastor or priest.
The two partners take a wedding vow pledged to stay together for the rest of their life.
 Muslim marriage: the marriage ceremony is officiated in mosque where the bridegroom signs a
contract with a bride's father or guardian before two male Muslim witnesses. This is following by a
reading from a Qur’an and counseling of the couple. They exchange rings followed by wedding
feast.

Factors which help to preserve marriage

 Faithfulness or fidelity: this is engaging in sex only with one's partner. Marriage partners should
remain loyal to each other by not having other sexual partners.
  Communication: when thoughts and feelings flow smoothly between marriage partners, it feels
good and cements the relationship. They speak out their concerns and feeling. However, lack of
healthy communication between spouses reduces the passion and love between them.
 Honesty: this is about partners being truthful to each other without keeping secrets or telling lies.
Partners must learn to become honest with each other if they are to achieve true intimacy.
Dishonesty destroyed marriages. With honesty, partners know exactly how their actions will affect
their loved ones.
 Free choice of marriage partner: individuals should choose their own marriage partners based
on love they have. This creates a strong foundation for marriage. Relatives should not chose
marriages partners for their children because such marriages are bound to face problems due to
lack of genuine love and compatibility between the spouses.
 Mutual care and support: these are needed in times of sickness and acquiring of basic needs
such as food, clothing, shelter and other necessities. A marriage partner may also need
psychological support from his/her spouse in times of stress.
 Perseverance: this is the ability to endure and carry on through many different types of
circumstance. There will always be trying moments that may lead to a marriage break up if
partners are not able to persevere.
 Tolerance: this involves partners accepting each other's feelings, opinions, habits and beliefs that
are different from their own provided there is true love and affection between them.

Importance of marriage
 Child bearing: marriage provides an appropriate place for partners legally have sex and child
bearing (procreation)
 Safe haven for child upbringing: it provides a secure environment for the upbringing of children
 Partnership: marriage provides an arrangement in which individuals from different backgrounds
and families enjoy the much needed partnership as husband and wife. The two are able to work
together to achieve their common social and economic goals and interests.
 Social and emotional support for partners: spouses share their personal worries and concerns
to have emotional relief. So partners support each other socially and emotionally. This helps in
reducing stress and improves personal wellbeing.
 Creation of new relations: marriage brings together not only spouses but also their respective
families into a new kind of relationship. This redefines the closeness and interactions of different
members of the two families for mutual benefit.

Factors that promote good relationship

 Mutual respect: partners make decisions, listen to each other's ideas and let them say their
opinion. Respect shows your spouse that they are appreciated, valued and loved. When there is
respect between husband and wife, the relationship between them is good and this leads to a
successful marriage.
 Mutual trust: partners should trust and be honesty to each other to promote good marriage
relationship.
 Communication: it enables spouses to express their needs, wants and concerns to each other
and this helps in strengthening the relationship for a lasting marriage. Poor communication can
lead to conflicts, ineffective problem solving and lack of intimacy.
 Tolerance: this helps to enable spouses to strengthen their marriage relationship.
 Spending time together regularly: this can be done through shopping, swimming, sharing stories
and doing things together. This can help couples become closer and have more time to talk and
therefore improve their marriage relationship.
 Attention: paying attention is one way of telling your partner that he/she is important to you. This
improves satisfaction and promotes good marriage relationship
 Emotional closeness: one of the ways to build emotional closeness is letting your partner know
how you feel about them. This involves being able to accept and share your feelings.
 Honesty: this helps in building trust and promotes good marriage relationship.
 Positivity: this means that frustrations and grievances are not getting airtime and no unresolved
tension is accumulating inside one or both partners. Being affectionate, truly listening to each other
are just a few examples of positive interactions
 Empathy: this means understanding a partner’s perspective by putting oneself in his/her shoes.
Husbands and wives are more content when they perceive that their spouses truly understand their
feelings and thoughts
 Commitment: when spouses are committed to investing in their marriage and are willing to
sacrifice some of their own preferences for the good of the relationship, they usually have
successful marriages
 Acceptance: when people feel that their spouses truly accept them for who they are, they are
usually more secure and confident in their relationships.
 Have constructive management of conflicts
 TOPIC 18: SECURITY
This is the protection of a person, property, organization or country against threats or harm. Internal
security is the act of keeping peace within borders of a sovereign state or other self governing territories by
upholding the national laws and defending against internal security threats.

In Malawi, the police service is an organ of the executive arm of government that is mandated by the
constitution to provide for the protection of public safety and the rights of persons. The Inspector General of
police (IG) is the head of the Malawi Police service. He is appointed by the president and confirmed by the
National Assembly by the majority of the members present through voting. He/she can only serve for five
years in that office and he/she can be removed by the president for being incompetent, incapacitated,
compromised or reaching retirement age.

The roles of the police in the provision of international security

 Establishing physical presence in all places to deter criminal from committing their evil acts. The
criminals get scared and they avoid committing their acts.
 Upholding and enforcing the law impartially and protecting life, liberty, property, human rights and
dignity of the members of new public.
 Promoting and preserving public order
 Preventing and controlling terrorist activities, breaches of communal harmony, militant activities
and other situations affecting internal security.
 Protecting public property, vital installation and establishments against acts of vandalism, violence
or any kind of attack.
 Preventing crimes and reducing the opportunities for the commission of crimes by taking
preventive actions and measures as well as by aiding and cooperating with other relevant agencies
in implementing due measures for prevention of crimes.
 Providing help to people in situations arising out of natural or man-made disaster and to provide
active assistance to other agencies in relief and rehabilitation measures.
 Aiding individuals who are in danger of physical harm to their person or property and providing
necessary help and to afford relief to people in distress situations.
 Collecting intelligence relating to matters affecting public peace and all kind of crimes including
social offences, extremism, terrorism and other matters relating to national security and
disseminate the same to all concerned agencies.
 Taking charge of all unclaimed property and taking action for their safe custody and disposal in
accordance with the prescribed procedure
 Arresting criminals and suspects and interrogating them
 Confronting, handling and managing various situations of conflict between different contending
groups, parties or individuals.

The roles of the army in the provision of security

  Carrying out miscellaneous civil contingency such as search and rescue, air ambulance provision,
assistance in the event of natural and other disasters.
 Protecting the country from external military threats, aggression or attacks by taking military action
to secure the borders. This is about maintaining a country's existence as a sovereign state and
ensuring that the borders are secure for the safety of the citizens and national institutions.
 Suppressing insurgency and acting in aid of civilian authorities to restore law and order when
called upon to do so.
 Upholding and protecting the constitutional order and assisting the civilian authorities in the proper
exercise for their functions under the constitution. In this respect, the army may help to prevent a
political crisis such as leadership succession dispute from degenerating into a security threats by
protecting the constitutional order.
 Providing technical expertise and resources to assist civilian authorities in the maintenance of
essential services in the times of emergency. For example engineers from the military may be
requested to rehabilitate roads, railway lines and bridges that have been damaged due to natural
and man-made disasters.
 Performing such other duties in the countries as may be required of them by any treaty entered into
by the country in accordance with the international law. These may include peacekeeping and the
combat operations.

Problems faced by the army when involved in internal security

1. Training: Their whole ethos, almost all their training and their equipment is based on inflicting maximum
damage and destruction on their opponents and defeating them in the shortest possible time within the
rules and the law of armed conflict. Key features of internal security operations on the other hand are
restraint and the use of minimum force exactly when the opposite of what is usually required of soldiers in
conventional welfare. However soldiers who are well trained to make necessary adjustment are able to
cope with the demands of internal security.

2. Equipment: Often forces are not properly equipped to deal with internal security operations. Soldiers
faced by hostile mob and equipped with only one a riffle will quite naturally use it if their lives are
threatened. If they have defensive equipment (flak jackets, helmets with visors, batons, tear gas etc)
however a graduated response can be used to dissuade or deter without having to resort to extreme
measures. It is difficult to demand restraint and minimum force from soldiers whose lives are in danger if
they are not properly equipped to do the job

3. Tactics: Because they are trained and equipped for armed conflicts where in the main large-scale
maneuvers and concentrations of massive force are required, armed forces need to adjust to the smaller
scale operations and the tactical mobility required at this lower of violence. Dealing with a hostile crowd of
civilians in a riot situation requires a completely different approach from an attack on an enemy position in
conventional warfare.

Importance of security in the country

  It helps build the confidence needed for the state to establish its authority and to effectively reduce
crime to enable citizens carry out their daily businesses without fear.
 It enables the survival of a country as a sovereign state. Any external aggression is dealt with by
force of arms to assert sovereignty and secure the borders.
 It attacks foreign investment in that it creates peace and stability. It reduces the cost of doing
businesses and increases incentives for both local and international investments in physical or
human capital. The significance of foreign direct investments brings advanced technology,
management practices and assured markets.
 It helps to prevent entry of illicit goods and illegal immigrants into the country
 Security leads to increased economic activities as citizens who want to invest their money are
assured of the safety of their businesses from armed robberies. This leads to more employment
creation and reduction in the levels of poverty.
 It promotes the country's good image as a tourist' destination hence contributing to the Gross
Domestic Product

TOPIC 19: CORRUPTION AND THE LAW

Establishment of the anti corruption bureau (ACB)

In 1995, Parliament passed the corrupt practice act to serve as a key legal instrument in the fight against corruption.
ACB is headed by a Director. The Director and the deputy Director are both appointed by the president and
confirmed by the Public Appointments Committee of parliament (PAC). The Director submits reports to the president
and to the minister regarding the general conduct of the affairs of the bureau.

Reasons why ACB was established

The ACB was established to lead the nation in the fight against corruption. This was done after noticing that
corruption existed at all levels of the society. The mission of the ACB is to prevent, reduce and eliminate corruption in
all its forms in order to enhance the socioeconomic well being of all the people of Malawi.

Organizational structure of the ACB

 The Directorate
Office of the director and deputy director

-Public Relations section

-internal audit section

Operations Department Management and support Department

a. Enforcement Division a. Office of services Division

i. Investigations section b. management Information Technology Division

 Fraud and economic crimes unit -ICT section
 Contracts and procurement unit -documentation section
 Access to and administration of c. Human Resources Management Division
justice unit -Human Resources Management section
ii. Prosecutions and legal section -Staff training and development section

b. Corruption Prevention and education division d. Financial Management Division

i. Corruption prevention section -Revenue section

 Prevention unit -Development section
 Research unit
 Intelligence unit
ii. Public education section

Functions of the ACB

a. Taking necessary measures for the prevention of corruption in public and private bodies by:

 Examining the practices and procedures of public bodies and private bodies in order to facilitate
the discovery of corrupt practices and secure the revision of methods of work or procedures which
in the opinion of the bureau may be prone or conducive to corrupt practices.
 Advising the public bodies and private bodies on the ways and means of preventing corrupt
practices and on changes in methods of work or procedures of such public and private bodies
compatible with the effective performance of their duties which the bureau considers necessary to
reduce the likelihood of the occurrence of corrupt practices.
 Educating members of the public on the dangers and evil effects of corruption in the society.
 Soliciting public support in the fight against corruption and to disseminate information on the
activities of the bureau
b. Receiving and handling complaints, reports or any information of alleged or suspected corrupt practice or
offense under the corrupt practices Act

c. Investigating any alleged or suspected offense under the corrupt practices act.

d. Investigating any offence under any written law disclosed in the course of investigating alleged or
suspected corrupt practice or offense under the corrupt practices act.

e. Prosecuting any offence under the corrupt practices act.

f. Investigating the conduct of any public office which in the opinion of the bureau may be connected with or
conducive to corruption and to report to the appropriate authority.

In Africa, issues of corruption have plagued the continent, leading to stunted development, weak
institutions, lack of investment and a general attitudes towards governance an its institutions. One of the
major problems in most African countries is that ordinary citizens are not empowered enough with
knowledge about corruption to resist, reject and participate in the fight against corruption in all forms.

Basic approaches to ant corruption

Interventionism: This is the approach in which the relevant authorities wait for corruption to occur and
then intervene to capture and punish the offender. This approach serves as both rehabilitation and
deterrence but it has the following problems:

 The harm has already occurred and cannot be undone

 The majority of crimes remain unreported
 The demand on finite resources will invariably be infinite given the degree of supervision necessary
to ensure that the deterrence effect operates

Managerialism: This is the approach in which those individuals or agencies seeking to engage in corrupt
behavior are discouraged or prevented from doing so by establishing appropriate systems, procedures and
protocols. It advocates the reduction or eliminating of opportunities such that those who generally benefit
from them cease to be able to do so. However, this approach has the following limitation: Individuals do not
necessarily operate according to the predetermined principles of managerialism.

There are three broad categories of people who will react differently to corrupt influences.

 Category I: people who want to do the right thing and require guidance on how to achieve this.
 Category II: people who are too timid to take the risk of operating outside the rules
 Category III: people who are corrupt and will operate outside of the rules entirely

For instance, a rule may exist which restricts the amount of money an official can receive as a gift. People
in category I know this rule exists and simply obey it. People in category II will simply not declare the gift
and thus flouting the rule. People in category III who wish to receive a bribe will simply register two gifts
Organizational integrity: This approach involves the integration of an organization's operational systems,
corruption control strategies and ethical standards so that a norm of ethical behavior is created. This
presupposes that deviance stems from the organization rather than the individuals. Arguably, targeting
individuals in anti corruption efforts is likely to be less successful than targeting the organizational context in
which individuals operate. The organization must provide a structural framework that removes the
possibility of corrupt practices.

The roles of the public in curbing corruption

 Cooperating with ACB by testifying in a court of law in order to secure conviction for those involved
in corruption. Convicting offenders particularly securing heavy punishments serves to deter others.
 Reporting cases of corruption to the ACB to ensure that those involved are arrested and
prosecuted.
 Resisting or rejecting corruption in order to discourage the malpractice.
 Educating others about corruption and its evil effects on society. This can help to increase levels of
awareness and encourage more people to join the fight against corruption.

TOPIC 20: SOCIAL INJUSTICE IN AFRICA

Dimensions of social injustice
 Injustice as misdistribution: it occurs when the benefits and burdens are distributed according to
criteria that not everyone could reasonably accept. The benefits refer to both natural and social
resources. The criteria may apply to both institutional and non institutional contexts.
 Injustice as exclusion: social injustice involves actions or policies undertaken to exclude others as
legitimate recipients of the distribution of benefits and burdens. This dimension of injustice may be
experienced by either individuals or groups.
 Injustice as disempowerment: social injustice exposes and exploits a person's vulnerabilities.
Victims of injustice are disempowered by injustice and therefore excluded from the distribution of
the benefits and burdens of social cooperation.

Causes of social injustice in Africa

Poverty: it prevents people from accessing basic needs such as food, shelter, clothing and other
necessities. They are excluded from participating meaningfully in development and their rights are violated

Cultural practices: some cultural practices that are harmful or discriminate against certain groups of
people. Examples are; female genital mutilation, child marriages, widow cleansing and inheritance and
other practices.

Lack of good governance: some leaders in Africa commit injustices in order to remain in power even if
they do not have the qualities of taking their countries on a progressive path to prosperity. It also leads to
corruption, nepotism, favoritism, intolerance to minority views and poor performance on all economic
development indicators.

Unequal distribution of resources: some African leaders deliberately allocate few resources to areas
they believe they have no political support. This pushes such areas and their inhabitants deep into the trap.

Tribalism: it limits opportunities for those who belong to the other tribes.

TOPIC 21: SOCIAL SERVICES

Community participation in the provision of social services
This is the creation of opportunities to enable all members of a community to actively contribute towards the
provision and care of social services for their own benefit. Community participation occurs when a
community organizes itself and takes responsibility for managing its problems related to the provision and
care of social services.

Advantages of community participation in the provision and care for social services
 Empowers people through acquisition of knowledge, skills and experience to take greater
responsibility for the social services. Using such knowledge and skills, community members are
able to repair or maintain the facilities, thus ensuring sustainability.
 Participation leads to increased utilization of the social services by members of the community due
to the awareness gained during the planning and implementation stages.
  Participation reduces the cost of social services provision in that members of the community bear
certain expenses through provision of certain materials and labor.
 Participation reduces dependency and increase self-reliance. People would not always look at the
government to solve all their problems.
 Participation motivates community members to protect social services from theft and vandalism.
This also guarantees sustainability of the social services in the community

Community mobilization
This is an attempt to bring both human and non human resources together to undertake development
projects in order to achieve sustainability.

Ways of mobilizing community participation in the provision and care for social
services
 Conducting awareness campaigns: raising awareness among community members on the role
they can play in offering the solution is important. Awareness can be done through distribution of
leaflets, songs, using social gatherings to relay information and the mass media such as radio,
television and newspapers. The emphasis of the messages should be on how communities can
participate and the benefits of their participation in the provision and care for social services.
 Organizing meetings to sell the idea about community participation: this requires articulating the
issues that require their attention and support in a manner and language that the community would
easily understand. If not properly articulated it can remove the enthusiasm and interest of the
community members thereby hampering your efforts.
 Meeting community leaders to solicit their support: this is important strategy because leaders
command respect among their subjects and so their support can help to influence people's
participation. Where the leader is in support of a particular initiative, people are easily convinced
that it is good for the community and so it becomes easy to win their support and cooperation.
 Creating partnership with existing community organizations: this can help you to use preexisting
structures to disseminate information about community participation in the provision and care for
social services.

Examples of social services in the community include: education, housing, electricity, water and sanitation,
health, transport and communication.

How the provision and care for social services contribute to socioeconomic
development
Education: it enriches people's understanding of themselves and the world. It improves the quality of their
lives and leads to broad social benefits to individuals and society. Education raises people's productivity
and creativity and promotes entrepreneurship and technological advances. It also secures economic and
social progress and improves income distribution. In other words, education helps to build human
capabilities and accelerate economic growth through knowledge, skills and creative strength of the society.
The positive outcome of education include reduction in poverty and inequality, improvement in health status
due to increased knowledge of prevention and cure for diseases, efficient, effective and informed
implementation of social and economic policies.

Housing: good housing guarantees good health for their people hence contributing to social and economic
development. Housing fulfills physical needs by providing security and shelter from weather and climate. It
also fulfills psychological needs by providing a sense of personal space and privacy.

Health: good health contributes greatly to socioeconomic development. It is only a healthy population that
can reduce poverty through increased productivity. Good health also improves educational attainment for
children and their mental development. Poor healthcare service delivery results into increased incidence of
disease which is a hindrance to development.

Water and sanitation: safe drinking water and basic sanitation is of crucial importance to the preservation
of human health. Preservation of human health enhances productivity. Where the provision of safe water
and sanitation is inadequate, diseases spread and the compromises the quality of the labor force.

Transport and communication: a well developed transport system helps in facilitating efficient movement
of people, goods and services from one place to another. This goes a long way in expanding the volume of
trade within countries. Expansion of trade triggers large scale production and this creates conducive
environment for socioeconomic development. A good communication system helps to ensure timely flow of
information to transact business. This helps to facilitate the expansion of the market for local products
leading to more sales and the subsequent growth in the economy.

Electricity: stable electricity supply is essential for the growth of the industrial sector. Increased domestic
electricity consumption can help to reduce the use of firewood for fuel and save trees from depletion.
 TOPIC 22: GENDER ISSUES IN AFRICA
Gender issues in Africa
Gender and culture/religion: some religious beliefs reinforce gender stereotypes and justify the
subordination of women such that some gender biases are directly related to religion. Culture also
promotes gender biases through socialization and initiation ceremonies. Religion and culture are often used
as a justification and an excuse for perpetrating and perpetuating discrimination against women. These
religious beliefs and practices do not allow women to express themselves in public to preach or to hold
leading position in religious and other institutions.

Gender and rights of women: in some African countries, women are denied the right to own property or
inherit land. They face social exclusion, female genital mutilation, trafficking, restricted mobility, forced and
early marriages among others.

Gender, peace and security: during armed conflicts women and girls experience sexual violence including
rape as a weapon of war and this is a serious violation of human rights. Their voices are rarely heard in
peace negotiations and post conflict reconstruction. This is why security council resolutions were developed
to promote and protect the rights of women in conflicts and post conflict situations.

HIV/AIDS and reproductive health: many women are unable to control decision to have sex or to
negotiate safer sexual practices, placing them at great risk of disease and health complications. There is
high incidence of HIV/AIDS among girls and women and disproportionate burden on women to care for and
support those infected by the disease. Women and girls are also severely affected when an adult man
loses a job or is sick. They have to give up some income-generating activities or sacrifice school to take
care of the sick relatives.

Gender, politics and governance: there are a number of barriers to women's political participation. The
look of African politics is decidedly male. An attitude that men make better political leaders than women is
wide spread around the world. Women's lower levels of income and education, combined with long hours of
paid and unpaid work, make it difficult for women to be involved in the political process.

Gender and education: this is evidenced by institutional exclusion of females from education, low literacy
rates and low educational enrollment for girls. Many girls stop going to school well before their male
counterparts which later makes it difficult for them to compete against male candidates in elections.

Gender and marriage: child marriages are driven by poverty, bride price, dowry, cultural traditions, laws
that allow child marriages, religious and social pressures, regional customs, fear of remaining unmarried,
illiteracy and perceived to work for money.

Gender and poverty: the global economic downturn will have a significant impact on women as more of
them lose jobs and are forced to manage shrinking household incomes. The global economic crisis hit
African women on two fronts. First, it arrests capital accumulation by women and second, it drastically
reduce women's individual incomes as well as the budgets they manage on behalf of households

Gender based violence: this is the use of threat or force against people of different sex in order to
advance ones interest. This type of violence can occur against a member of family, school, workplace or
community who is either a male or a female. Gender based violence take many forms and include;

 Physical violence: this includes beating, biting, twisting limbs, bullying and deliberately tearing of
somebody's property such as books and clothes. It includes wife battering which is used as a
correctional measure for women.
 Sexual violence: this includes rape, girl-child defilement, incest, touching someone's private parts
without approval, unwelcome or unsolicited sexual comment, deliberately promising favors such as
promotion at work by people in authority in exchange of sex .
 Psychological violence/ emotional abuse: this includes use of foul language, calling girls and
women bad names because of the way they appear or dress, make them feel bad about
themselves, making threats to hurt them as well as isolating them by controlling who they see or
talk. This affects females to lose confidence thereby denying them freedom of expression and
association. It also creates bitter relations between people.
 Economic violence: this includes property grabbing, not allowing a spouse to engage in business
or employment, taking away your spouse money without consent, failure to disclose your salary or
wages to your partner, depriving your family resources and support for a better life, robbing people
their properties especially women, theft. Gender based violence is aggravated by poverty, drug and
substance abuse, lack of communication and cultural practices and beliefs.

Female genital mutilation: It is a violation of human rights of women and girls and reflects deep rooted
inequality between the sexes and an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always
carried out on minors and a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person's rights to
health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

Gender and assets (land and property) ownership: Women's lack of suffixes land rights negatively
affects their immediate families and the larger community as well. With land ownership, women can
develop an income and allocate this income more fairly within the household. Providing sufficient land
rights for women is beneficial because women are less likely to be victims of neither domestic violence nor
contract and spread HIV/AIDS as they do not resort to prostitution. Women may also have better access to
microcredit and their children are more likely to get an education and stay in school longer. However, there
are traditions and cultural norms which bar women from inheriting or purchasing land. This put women in
place of dependence on their husbands and relatives for their livelihood and shelter. So women remain
excluded from land ownership due to customs and deeply ingrained culture habits. Even when women save
money to purchase land the land is signed in their husbands name while women sign as the witness.
Gender and employment: African women have been active in agriculture, trade and other economic
pursuits but a majority of them are in the informal labor force. Differential access to education and training
opportunities has led to low proportions of women in the formal sector and their subsequent concentration
in low paid production jobs with limited career prospects. Women often suffer employment discrimination
because they need to take time off for maternity leave or a child sick.

Gender and access to financial services and markets: Access to financial services by individuals and
enterprises is still limited across the continent. Gender plays a particular role as more women are much
more financially excluded from than men. In some countries, women have only limited access to credit or
insurance products, while in other countries women have more difficulties opening a savings account or
face access barriers to any financial products. Most African women face a variety of legal, economic and
social constraints. Some laws still treat them

Gender and access to information, communication and technology: It is often more difficulty for
women to gain access to information and technology. In many societies, women and men access to and
use of technologies are rooted in behavioral, cultural and religious traditions. Cultural and social attitudes
are often unfavorable to women's participation in the field of science and technology, which limits their
opportunities in areas of ICT.

Ways of achieving gender balance in Africa

1. Normative or affirmative action: countries across the continent have started implementing quota
systems to ensure the representation of women in politics.

2. Women empowerment: Empowering women can be done economically, educationally and politically
through promoting women's and girl's economic rights and opportunities such as employment and poverty
reduction. We cannot end poverty without putting women at the center of our development strategies.
Women's economic empowerment involves increasing access to better jobs, businesses, securing their
legal rights and many more. There should be equal opportunities and sustainable access to cheaper
sources through training in production skills and techniques, business management and functional literacy.
The society should ensure that girls and women can have equal access to health information and services,
education, employment and political positions

3. Financing: programs that benefit women and girls in editor, healthcare, enforcing laws relating to equal
pay and property rights, investing in infrastructures and many more requires adequate funds. So
government budgets must consider the impact on women of how of how money is spent. This calls for
gender-responsive planning and budgeting, thus including women in planning, budgeting and policy making
processes in a meaningful way.

4. Legislation: Laws must be created to address domestic and gender based violence. Property and
inheritance laws can be reformed to give women greater access to land and property. The existing laws
against gender discrimination must be enforced.
5. Engaging boys and men: Ending gender based violence will mean changing cultural concepts about
masculinity and that process must actively engage men whether they are policy makers, parents, spouses
or young boys. When both men and women are involved and focus on each other's needs in addition to
their own, there is the potential for women and men to develop cooperative working relationships,
communication between the sexes and more shared childcare and household responsibilities.

6. Education: Education and training to girls and women delays the age at which a woman marries and
provides an alternative opportunity other than marriage. It also increases socioeconomic status and earning
potential for girls. Educated women improve the welfare of the family, increase the tax base and increases
level of agricultural output.

Conventions on gender in Africa

International conventions or treaties on gender

 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against women (CEDAW): It
addresses women's rights in politics, healthcare, education, economics and employment, law,
property and marriage and family relations.
 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against women: it stipulates that all state parties, in
accordance with national legislation, should prevent, investigate and punish acts of violence
against women whether perpetrated by the state or private persons.
 The Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action: it identifies 12 critical areas of action needed to
empower women and ensure their human rights include women and poverty, education and
training of women, women and health, violence against women, women and armed conflict, women
and the economy, women in power and decision making, institutional mechanisms for the
advancement of women, human rights of women, women and the media, women and environment
and girl-child.
 The United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1880 and 1890: These were
developed to promote and protect the rights of women in conflicts and post conflict situations.
When women are excluded from peace processes, their rights are contravened hence the need for
women's equal and full participation as active agents in peace and security.

SADC declaration on gender and development

SADC protocol on Gender and development was adopted in South Africa in 2008. It sets six specific targets
to be attained by 2015 and aims to eliminate gender based violence at every level;

 Enact and enforce legislation prohibiting all forms of gender based violence
 Ensuring that the laws on gender based violence provide to the comprehensive testing, treatment
and care of survivors of sexual assault.
 Review and reform their criminal laws and procedures applicable to cases of sexual offences and
gender based violence
  Enact and adopt specific legislative provision to prevent human trafficking and provide holistic
services to the victims, with the aim of reintegrating them into society.
 Enact legislative provisions and adopt and implement policies, strategies and programs which
define and prohibit sexual harassment in all spheres and provide deterrent sanctions for
perpetrators of sexual harassment
 Adopt integrated approaches including institutional cross sector structures, with the aim of reducing
current levels of gender based violence by half by 2015.

The African union protocol to the a African charter on human and people's rights on
the rights of women in Africa (Maputo protocol) of 2003
This protocol guarantees comprehensive rights to women including the right to take part in the social and
political process equally with men, to control of their reproductive health and to end female genital
mutilation. This protocol places an obligation on States parties to promote women's access to over
productive resources such as land and guarantee their right to property.

The African union solemn declaration on gender equality in Africa (ECA)

It reflects the concern on the negative impact on women and development of African countries of issues of
HIV/AIDS l, conflict, poverty, violence against women, women's exclusion from politics and decision making
and illiteracy and violation of women's property and inheritance rights. It resolved on measures to combat
HIV/AIDS pandemic and provide support to those infected and affected, full participation and representation
of women in the prevention, resolution and management of conflicts, extend the gender principle to all
organs of AU, regional economic communities, national and local levels, campaign against recruitment of
child soldiers and abuse of girl children as wives and sex slaves and gender based violence.

The Dakar African platform for action for advancement of women (1994)
It focuses on women, women rights, social change, human rights advancement and women's status.

Effects of gender bias on development

 It causes poverty and population growth. Discrimination against women reinforced by conventional
strategies of economic growth causes Poverty and population growth by preventing more women
from obtaining the credit, education and training, health services, child care and legal status
needed to improve their prospects. As a result the economy of many developing countries lags far
behind below their economic potential.
 Gender bias promotes unequal access of women and girls to opportunities such as employment
and business. It therefore creates a remorseless cycle of poverty that keeps girls in from living up
to their potential. It also leaves them vulnerable to severe physical and emotional abuse
  It leads to unequal participation and contribution of women and girls to development activities and
women will have unequal access to the power structures that control society and determine
development issues. This leads to slow development of the country.
 Gender bias promotes sexual harassment and violence against women. Because of the inequality
in the society, women

TOPIC 23: CLIMATE CHANGE

This refers to a long term change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns. It may be caused by
natural processes such as volcanic eruption and variation in solar radiation. It is also caused by human
activities such as global warming.

Global warming refers to the increase in the temperature of the earth's atmosphere that is caused by the
increase of particular gases, green houses gases especially carbon dioxide. A green house gas is a gas in
an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation and includes water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone
and carbon dioxide.

Since the beginning of the industrial revolution taken in the year 1750, the burning of fossil fuels such as
wood, coal, oil and natural gas and extensive clearing of natural forests has contributed concentration of
carbon dioxide by 2012.

Signs for climate change in Malawi are; less or more rains, drying vegetative cover, droughts and flooding,
unpredictable erratic rains water shortage, drying rivers and strong storms or cyclones.

Socioeconomic impact of climate change

 It threatens human health. A warming planet threatens people worldwide causing deaths,
spreading insect-borne diseases and respiratory illnesses.
 It leads to devastating or unbearable heat waves.
 It affects agricultural production and food supply. The changing rainfall pattern and higher
temperature have forced farmers to shorten the growing season and switch to hybrid and drought
resistant crops. There has been a drop in crop production due to frequent flooding and droughts.
  It leads to economic losses. For instance, the economy of Malawi depends on natural resources for
instance economic sector such as agriculture, forestry, tourism, fisheries, energy and health are
dependent on land, biodiversity and water.
 Biodiversity loss and damage to ecosystems. Thousand of species risk extinction from
disappearing habitat, changing ecosystem and acidifying oceans. For instance, a climate change is
leading to loss of polar bears' feeding habitat. As the sea ice disappears bear mortality therefore
increases.
 It is a threat to forests. Climate change leads to increased risks of fires due to more frequent and
extended dry periods. Therefore, forests are more vulnerable to fibers which are induced by global
warming or set deliberately by people.
 It leads to shortage of water. Changes in rainfall and drought patterns are depending water crisis.
 It leads to destruction of building and other places infrastructures. Climate change leads to violent
and stronger storms and increased storms cause damage. The storm or hurricanes created tend to
last longer release to social services institutions like schools whose roofs were brown off.
Destruction of some infrastructures like roads, bridges, houses especially along the rivers is due to
flush floods induced by climate change.

Climate disaster in Malawi

 Flooding/flush floods associated with heavy rains in February 2015. The human activities may lead
to floods especially deforestation, settlement and development activities. People experience loss of
property and life.
 Erratic rains and drought between 1994 and 2005 and 2008 to 2012
 Tropical cyclones (violent winds). A cyclone is a low pressure system that causes wind of great
force which destroys property, crops and life.
 Pest infestation. The rainy season brings with it favorable bleeding conditions for army worms and
red locusts. These are crop eating pests. They tend to damage maize, rice, millet, sorghum and
pasture. In 2006, there was an outbreak of the Africa army worm in Malawi which affected all the 8
Agriculture Development Division (ADD). In December 2013 Red locusts’ outbreak hit Lake Chilwa
basin wetland in Zomba.
 TOPIC 24: DISASTER RISK MANAGEMENT
Disaster: it is a serious disruption of the functioning of a community or a society involving widespread
human, material, economic or environmental losses and impacts which exceeds the ability of the affected
community or society to cope using its own resources.

Risk: It is the probability of harmful consequences or expected losses resulting from interactions between
natural or human induced hazards and vulnerable condition.

Disaster risk: this is the potential disaster losses in lives, health status, livelihood, assets and services
which could occur to a particular community or a society over some specified future time period.

Vulnerability: a set of conditions resulting from physical, social, economic and environmental factors which
increase the susceptibility of a community, households and individuals to the impact of disasters.

Hazard: a potentially dangerous event, substance, human activity or conditioning that may causing loss of
life, injury, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption or
environmental damage. There are both natural and man-made hazards. Train or airplane crashes,
industrial gas explosion and terrorist attacks are examples of man-made hazards.

Coping capacity: this is the ability of people, organizations and systems, using available skills and
resources to face and manage adverse conditions, emergencies or disasters.

Disaster risk management (DRM): it is the ongoing process by which stakeholders plan for and reduce
the impact of disasters, react during and immediately following a disaster and take steps to recover after a
disaster has occurred. Stakeholders in disaster risk management include government, development
partners, private sector, civil society, communities, households and individuals. It is about avoiding,
lessening or transferring the adverse effects of hazards through activities and measures for prevention,
mitigation and preparedness.

Disaster risk reduction: A systematic approach consisting of actions aimed at minimizing the extent of
disaster risks and disaster losses and to strengthen the capacities of vulnerable communities, households
and individuals in order for them to withstand the negative impact of possible hazards taking place in their
areas.

Risk assessment/analysis or identification: a methodology to determine the nature and extent of risk by
analyzing potential hazards and evaluating existing conditions of vulnerability that could pose a potential
threat or harm to people, property, livelihoods and the environment.

Prevention: activities or measures that provide complete avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and
related disasters. Examples include dams or embankments that eliminate flood risks and land use
regulations that do not permit settlement in high risk zones.
Mitigation: structural and nonstructural measures undertaken to limit the adverse impact of hazards and
related disasters. Mitigation measures include planting drought tolerant crops and environmental
rehabilitation.

Preparedness: activities and measures taken in advance to ensure effective response to the impact of
hazards. These include dissemination of timely and effective early warnings and the temporary evacuation
of people and property from threatened locations.

Response: providing emergency services and public assistance during or immediately after a disaster in
order to save lives, reduce health impacts, ensure public safety and meet the basic subsistence needs of
the people affected.

Recovery: the decisions and actions taken after a disaster with a view to restoring or improving the pre
disaster living conditions of the stricken community, while encouraging and facilitating necessary
adjustments to reduce disaster risk. Recovery measures include rehabilitation and reconstruction of
infrastructure and restoration of livelihoods.

Types of disasters
 Climatic disasters: these are climate-induced natural disasters such as floods, drought and
famine. Climate change has increased the frequency and severity of climate related disasters.
 Geomorphologic disasters: these are disasters happening as a result of naturally occurring
processes and conditions such as earthquakes, volcanoes, landslides, hurricanes, tsunamis and
soil erosion.
 Biological disasters: these are disasters caused by the exposure of living organisms to germs
and toxic substances produced by these germs. It can also occur where there is a sudden growth
in the population of a certain kind of animals or plants feeding on other organisms. Examples of
biological disasters include epidemics, locust plague and army worms infestation.
 Man-made disasters: disastrous events caused directly and principally by one or more identifiable
deliberate or negligent human actions. Terrorism, chemical spill and plane crash are examples of
man-made disasters.

Causes of vulnerability to the effects of disasters

 Loss of access to resources (materials/economic vulnerability)
 Disintegration of social patterns (social vulnerability)
 Lack of strong national and local institutional structures (organizational vulnerability)
 Lack of access to information and knowledge (educational vulnerability)
 Lack of public awareness (attitudinal and motivational vulnerability)
 Lack of access to political power and representation (political vulnerability)
 Certain beliefs and customs (cultural vulnerability)
 Weak buildings or weak individuals (physical vulnerability)
Common disasters affecting Malawi
1 Earthquakes and earth tremors: earthquakes are normally caused by tectonic activities (forces or
conditions within the earth that cause movement of the crust). These activities include volcanism, sliding
and rapture of underlying rock masses and converging of plates. Malawi is prone to earthquakes because it
lies along the East Africa Rift Valley.

Factors that increase vulnerability to earthquakes

 Buildings that are close to or on faults/joints
 Houses that are poorly designed and constructed
 Lack of earthquake safety knowledge
 Topography and loose soil structure

2. Drought: droughts occur when a long period of abnormally dry weather leads to a severe water
shortage.

Types of droughts
a). Meteorological drought: this is a reduction in rainfall supply compared with a specified average
condition over a specified period. It occurs when there is a prolonged period of below average precipitation
which creates a natural shortage of available water.

b). Agricultural drought: this refers to situations in which the moisture in the soil is no longer sufficient to
meet the needs of the crops growing in the area. Focus is placed on precipitation shortages, reduced
ground water and so on. Although agricultural drought often occurs during dry, hot periods of low
precipitation, it can also occur during periods of average precipitation when soil conditions or agricultural
techniques require extra water.

c). Hydrological drought: it occurs when water reserves in aquifers, lakes and reservoirs fall below an
established statistical average. It can also occurs even during times of average or above average
precipitation if human demand for water is high and increased usage has lowered the water reserves.

Factors that increase vulnerability to drought disaster

 Lack of potable drinking water sources
 No well established irrigation system
 Overdependence on rain-fed agriculture
 Use of shallow wells
 Limited livelihood opportunities
 Limited water sources
 Poor farming and land management practices
 Deforestation
3. Famine: this is a widespread scarcity of food that results in starvation, malnutrition and increased
mortality.

Factors that increase vulnerability to famine

 Poverty
 Closed political regime that does not openly declare famine disaster
 Inadequate logistics for food distribution
 Poor management of resources
 Lack of disaster preparedness
 Breakdown of traditional safety

4. Cyclones: It is a violent storm characterized by high winds rotating about a calm centre of low
atmosphere pressure that can produce winds which can cause property damage, injury and loss of life.

Factors that increase vulnerability to tropical cyclones

 Poverty
 Lack of insurance protection
 Lack of early warning systems
 Inefficient communication to transmit the warning messages
 Lack of disaster preparedness

5. Disease epidemics: an epidemic is the rapid spread of infectious disease to a large number of persons
in a given population within a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious disease are caused by a change
in the ecology of the host population such as increased stress or density of a vector species, a genetic
change in the pathogen reservoir.

Factors that increase vulnerability to disease epidemics

 Inadequate medical facilities. This limits people's access to treatment when there is a disease
outbreak thereby exposing them to the full impact of the epidemic
 Cultural practices: certain cultural practices may increase levels of susceptibility of the population
to a particular disease outbreak if people are not aware of the risks involved
 Poverty: poverty may limit people's ability to access better health and sanitation thereby increasing
their vulnerability to disease outbreaks
 Increased population density
 Unhealthy living conditions
 Migration
 Lack of information on prevention
 Lack of disaster preparedness
6. Landslides: this is the downward movement of soil rocks or debris resulting from naturally occurring
vibrations, changes in water content, removal of lateral support, loading with weight and weathering or
human manipulation of water courses.

Types of landslide movement

a). Fall: this is generally characterized by a rapid to extremely rapid rate of movement with the descent of
material characterized by a free fall period. Falls are commonly triggered by earthquakes or erosion
processes

b). Topple: this is characterized by the tilting of rock without collapse, or by the forward rots of rocks about
a pivot point. Topples have a rapid rate of movement and failure is generally influenced by the fracture
pattern in rock. Material descends by abrupt falling, sliding, bouncing and rolling

c). Mud flow: it has a high water content which causes the slope material to lose cohesion, turning it into
slurry. The flowing material is channeled by the landscape and move rapidly.

d). Slide: this can be subdivided into translational and rotational slides. Rotational slides move with rotation
and they are sometimes called slumps. Translational slides have a two dimensional surface of rupture.
Slides are most common when the toe of the slope is under cut and the material moves largely intact or in
broken pieces.

e). Lateral spread: this is characterized by gradual lateral displacement of large volumes of distributed
material over very gentle or flat terrain triggered by rapid motion of the earth.

Factors that increase vulnerability to landslides

 Deforestation
 Cultivation on already fragile slopes
 Building settlements at the base of steep slopes and on mouths of streams from mountain valleys
 Lack of awareness and understanding of landslides

The effects of disaster on individuals, communities and nations

Individuals

 Injuries and loss of life

 Loss of home. Certain types of disasters may lead to destruction of people's homes.
 Loss of food and income. After disasters people go hungry due to destroyed food supply and
crops. This is also accompanied by disruption of economic activities leading to loss of income by
many individuals
 Psychological trauma: some people may develop post traumatic stress disorder. This can
sometimes lead to lasting psychological damage and emotional distress.
  Loss of personal property.
Nations
 Insurance losses and rising premiums leading to economic stress. Insurance companies absorb a
large proportion of the cost following a disaster due to increased claims by policy holders. This
makes insurance companies to suffer losses and have their contribution to the economy
compromised.
 Disruption of economic activities leading to loss of production and reduced revenue collection for
the government. Reduced revenue collection coupled with unprecedented addition expenditure on
disaster, have a negative impact on the national financial plan in terms of implementation
 Disruption of social services due to damaged infrastructure reduced capacity and overstretched
resources.
 Loss of investors’ confidence due to disruption of economic activities
 High levels of damage to public infrastructure and increased cost of rehabilitation.
 Increased budgetary expenditure on relief support to the affected areas. This undermines efforts to
improve the provision of social services as resources are diverted to relief support.

Communities
 Loss of means of subsistence for the affected communities
 Spread of infectious diseases due to degradation of sanitary conditions.
 Population displacement. People abandon their homes and seek shelter elsewhere. A large influx
of refugees can disrupt many things from accessibility of health care and education to food
supplies and basic hygiene
 Disruption of social services such as health and education
 Destruction of social cooperation infrastructure such as school blocks, power lines, roads, railway
and bridges

Preventive and mitigation measures for different types of disasters

Preventive and mitigation measures for drought

 Encouraging farmers to use drought tolerant crops and livestock

 Developing household, community and national drought contingency plans
 Practicing conservation farming to improve water holding capacity of the soil
 Taking insurance cover to be cushioned from the effects of disasters
 Practicing efficient water-use methods in the home to reduce wastage
 Practicing rain water harvesting and folder storage
 Practicing and intensifying irrigation farming
  Conducting civic education campaigns to increase public awareness and understanding on drought
in order for them to develop more resilience
 Promoting the culture of planting trees as a climate change adaptation strategy to mitigate the
effects of drought

What to do before a drought

 Stockpile food, water, farm inputs and essential supplies

 Develop household contingency plans
 Parents and guardians should sensitive children on droughts
 Diversity livelihood opportunities such as having businesses, cultivating different crops and rearing
different animals
 Use drought tolerant or early maturity crops
 Practice water harvesting and folder storage
 Practice conservation farming
 Plant early if drought is predicted
 Diversity foodstuffs rather than depending on maize as the only food
 Practice efficient water-use methods in the home

What to do during a drought

 Examine your water use efficiency and irrigation needs

 Install irrigation devices that are the most water efficient for each use. Micro and drip irrigation and
soaker hoses are examples of efficient devices.
 Maintain a cover of residues through conservation tillage or no tillage to reduce the amount of
evaporation from the soil surface so that the conserved water can be used for the crop
 Promote using bio-fertilizer to build and recycle plant nutrients and organic matter, improve soil
structure and the ability of soil to hold water and also control soil erosion
 Use mechanical weed-control because many herbicides lose effectiveness during dry periods.
Mechanical weed control becomes your second line of defense Ava weeds.
 Consider early planting if drought is predicted
 Practice efficient water-use methods in the home.

Preventive and mitigation measures for floods

 Ensuring that houses are built on elevated areas

 Constructing raised buildings or houses
 Land use planning. It can help to mitigate disasters and reduce risks by discouraging settlements
and construction of key installations in hazard prone areas
 Encouraging people to take insurance cover for protection against floods
 Conducting civic education campaigns to increase awareness and understanding about floods
  Encouraging people to plant trees in catchment areas and along river banks to control flooding
 Advising people in areas where flooding is an annual problem, to have two homes. One in upland
for use during the rainy season and another in the flood plane for use during the dry season
 Constructing river bank embankments, storm drains and dams to control flooding

What to do before floods

 Stockpile food, water, shelter, medical and essential supplies

 Teach children about hazards
 Teach children about flood hazards
 Develop household and community contingency plans
 Identify safer places for evacuation during floods
 Develop a culture of listening to the radio or watching television and reading news for information
 Move immediately to higher ground if there is any possibility of a flash flood. Do not wait for
instructions to move as flash flooding can occur without warning.
 Be aware of streams, drainage channels and other areas known to flood suddenly. Flash floods
can occur in these areas with or without such typical warnings as rain clouds or heavy rain.
 Family members should develop a disaster communication plan so that in case they are separated
from one another during a flood, they can be reunited after the disaster. Take the following steps
for your disaster communication plan;
 Locate a safe place outside home for family members to meet during the flood
 Identify a contact person outside the flood prone area who can be called by everyone in
the household to relay the information
 Provide all family members with a list of important contact phone numbers
 Determine where family members may stay if the home cannot be occupied after a flood

What to do during floods

 Evacuate to safer places immediately

 If you are capable, assist in search and rescue and provision of first aid
 Do not walk through moving water as it can make you fall and drown
 If you have to walk in water, walk where the water is not moving. Use a stick to check the firmness
of the ground in front of you.
 Do not drive into flooded areas and drifts. If flood waters rise above your car, abandon it and move
to higher ground if you can do so safely.
 Watch out for snakes in areas that are flooded. Flood waters flush snakes from their habitats.
 Stay away from downed power lines and report to ESCOM and other authorities.
 Stay out an away from any building that is surrounded by flood waters.

Recovering from floods

 Replant crops in affected gardens

  Build back the damaged infrastructure better and safer
 Mobilize resources for rehabilitation
 Provide psychosocial support to children and other traumatized persons
 Seek advice from relevant authorities such as community health workers to learn whether or not
the community's water supply is safe to drink
 Avoid flood waters as it may be contaminated or electrically charged from underground or downed
power lines
 Return home only when you are sure it is safe or when authorities indicate it is safe

Preventive and mitigation measures for earthquakes and earth tremors

 Advising people to hang heavy items and glassware such as pictures and mirrors away from beds,
chairs and any place where people sit or sleep. These can easily fall off and cause injuries
 Advising people living in earthquake prone areas to build their houses using light materials so that
they do not get seriously injured when collapsing
 Advising people to store potentially hazardous materials such as chemicals and petroleum
products in approximate containers and in cabinets fastened to the wall or floor. Sometimes these
can catch fire
 Enforcing the policy to ensure adherence to building codes during construction so that houses can
withstand the shaking due to earthquakes
 Sensitizing children on earthquakes and providing them with psycho social support to reduce
trauma

What to do before an earthquake

 Build well reinforced houses to withstand earthquakes

 Develop a culture of listening to the radio, watching television and reading news
 Identify safer places close to you at home, school or workplace such as under the table
 Sensitize others what to do during an earthquake
 Avoid settling in prone areas
 Develop a household emergency plan and have emergency survival items such as adequate food
and water so that you can survive for some days

What to do during an earthquake

 If inside a building, go under a strong object that will not move or break such as a table or bed and
hold on tightly
 Avoid running outside as most injuries occur when people inside buildings attempt to move to a
different location inside the building or try to escape.
 Do not get into a lift and if you are already in a lift, stop at the nearest floor and get out
 If you are driving, pull over to the side of the road that is free from traffic, building, pole, trees and
stay in the vehicle until shaking stops
  If you are outside, get into the open away from buildings, power lines and trees
 Do not stay in weakened buildings, instead construct temporary grass shelters or stay in tents

Recovering from an earthquake

 Build back the damaged infrastructure better and safer by following construction guidelines
 Expect aftershocks and help those around you if you can
 Report injuries or fires to relevant authorities
 Provide psychosocial support to children and other traumatized persons.

Preventive and mitigation measures for famine

 Advising households to reduce food wastage

 Adopting and intensifying irrigation farming to counter food shortage
 Developing famine early warning systems to enhance disaster preparedness
 Investing in innovative food storage and distribution systems
 Developing household and community contingency plans
 Conducting civic education campaigns to increase awareness and enhance preparedness for
famine in order when reduce vulnerability

What to do before famine

 Develop household contingency plans

 Develop famine early warning systems to stockpile enough food
 Take insurance cover to be protected from the effects of famine
 Invest in innovative food storage and distribution systems to guarantee food availability to those in
need during famine
 Conduct civic education and awareness campaigns on famine to reduce vulnerability to those in
need during famine
 Stockpile food and other supplies

What to do during famine

 Avoid food wastage

 Adjust your eating habits to other food stuffs to reduce over reliance on maize
 Use existing traditional safety nets to improve access to food
 Report to authorities about the famine for possible relief support

Preventive and mitigation measures for landslides

 Advising people to protect their home and community by planting ground cover on slopes
 Avoiding cultivation on already fragile slopes
  Avoiding building settlements near steep slopes, close to mountain edges, near drainage ways or
along natural erosion valleys
 Building channels or deflection walls to direct the mud flow around buildings when a landslides
occurs
 Conducting civic education campaigns to increase public awareness and understanding of
landslides
 Developing a disaster communication plan
 Advising people to develop a culture of listening to the radio, watching television and reading news
for information
 Identifying safe places for evacuation during landslides
 Developing household and community contingency plans.
 Warning people to be alert and listen for unusual sounds when there is something that can trigger
a landslide

What to do before landslides

 Always listen to the radio, watch television and read news for warnings of heavy rainfall that may
trigger a landslide
 Identify safe places for evacuation in case there is a landslide
 Develop a disaster communication plan
 Conduct civic education campaigns to increase public awareness and understanding of landslides
 Develop household contingency plans
 Protect your home and community by planting ground cover on slopes
 Avoid cultivating on already fragile slopes.

What to do during landslides

 If you can, evacuate to a safe location

 Report to authorities immediately about the landslide
 Provide psychosocial support to children and other traumatized persons
 Avoid river valleys and low-lying areas
 Stay away from the slide area as there may be a danger of additional slides
 Look for and report broken utility lines and damaged roads, railways and bridges to relevant
authorities
 Curl into a tight ball and protect your head if escape is not possible

Preventive and mitigation measures for tropical cyclones

 Having insurance cover for protection

 Putting in place cyclone early warning systems
 Developing household and other contingency plans
  Encouraging people to develop a culture of listening to the radio, watching television and reading
news for weather updates
 Mobilizing resources for relief operation in case the cyclone disaster occur.
 Enforcing safety guidelines when building houses so that they are strong enough to withstand a
cyclone
 Advising each family to have a disaster supply kit that should include such things as first aid, water,
food and clothing

What to do before tropical cyclone

 Have an evacuation plan ready

 Secure or clear loose materials around your home; these could become dangerous and damaging
missiles in high winds
 Follow weather updates for more information
 Identify safe places for evacuation in case of a cyclone surge
 Discuss evacuation plans and routes and inform others of those plans before the cyclone

What to do during the cyclone

 Turn off electricity, gas and water and unplug all appliances
 Ensure that everyone is inside the house and move to the strongest room
 Keep your emergency kit with you
 Do not venture outdoors until you are very sure the cyclone has passed
 Stay away from downed power lines and report to ESCOM immediately

Preventive and mitigation measures for disease epidemics

 Ensuring rapid detection of cases of epidemic prone diseases to avoid a disaster

 Public health experts should collect information to detect and monitor emerging disease threats
and protect people by advising them to observe precautionary measures
 Developing effective risk communication strategy for timely response to any disease outbreak
 Conducting civic education campaigns to increase public awareness on prevention and treatment
 Making sure that everyone is following health tips on prevention
 Enacting support legislation to provide a legal framework to protect population from disease
outbreak
 Separating those who are already have the disease if it is highly contagious

What to do during epidemic

 Follow public health tips to avoid contracting the diseases

 Seek medical attention
 Isolate the sick to limit the spread of the disease and for the treatment
  Conduct immunization programs

Preventive and mitigation measures for pest infestation

 Training and deploying more agricultural extension workers in the rural areas
 Putting in place mechanisms for early detection of pests
 Making sure that pesticides are more affordable
 Replant crops in all the fields destroyed by pests

Advantages of managing disaster risks over managing disasters

Disaster risk management Disaster management
It prevents risks from turning into disasters and only carried out after a disaster has occurred and
therefore saves property and human life from therefore does nothing to prevent the cost of
damage damage to property and human life
Managing risks is less expensive than rebuilding It is very expensive to bear the cost of rebuilding
and repairing damages caused by hazards that and repairing damages caused by hazards that
have already occurred have already occurred
Reduces the impact of disasters by enhancing It only responds to the effects of the levels of
resilience capacity of communities and households vulnerability of communities and households to
various disasters
It is easy for communities, households and Recovery is difficult because of the extensive
individuals to recover from effective of disasters damage caused due to lack of coping capacity to
because of the increased capacity to withstand the withstand the impact
impact
It allows communities and individuals to know the Communities and individuals do not know the losses
losses to which they are exposed and to use that to which they are exposed leading to lack of
knowledge to plan adequately, to take measures effective response to risks that turn into disasters
that contribute to risk reduction and to be able to
respond effectively if the risks turn into disasters.
 TOPIC 25: GLOBAL ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
This is an event of concern or problematic occurrence that may happen in one place or worldwide but its
impact is everywhere or in several places worldwide.

Global issues and challenges faced in the 21st century

1. Epidemics
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS has become one of the worlds most serious healthy that is development
challenges. Almost all those living with HIV reside in low and middle income countries particularly in sub-
Saharan Africa, most people living with other or at risk for HIV do not have access to prevention, care and
treatment and there is still no cure for the disease. The HIV epidemic impacts the health of individuals,
households, communities and the development and economic growth of nations. Many of the countries'
economic growth are affected by HIV but also suffer from infection diseases, food insecurity and other
serious problems. Another epidemic is the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) which is severe, often fatal illness in
humans.

2. Poverty
Poverty is a condition where people's basic needs for sanitation, education, water, food, clothing, health
and shelter are not being met and the means to acquire these needs are not available. It is also the inability
of getting choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity and lack of basic capacity to participate
effectively in society.

3. World population
The population of the world is increasing rapidly estimated at 80 million people per year. Rapid population
growth exacerbates all kind of challenges including exerting pressure on the world's resources. Lack of
health care and other social services, shortage of water, food supplies, poverty, rise in unrests and crimes,
pollution and environmental degradation are all problems linked to rapid population growth.

4. Environmental problems/issues
Environment issues are the harmful effects of human activity on the biophysical environmental and its
components such as air, water, soil, plants and animals. Major current environmental issues include global
warming, climate change, pollution, environmental degradation, resource depletion and loss of biodiversity.
The main cause of global warming is air pollution through careless cutting down of trees, burning bushes
and crop residues in the garden, burning fossil fuels, combustion from cars and industrialization and animal
dung and rice farms which release methane. The main effect of global warming is climate change. The
negative impact of climate change including: flooding, shifting season, hailstorms and strong winds which
destroy buildings and increase the spread of diseases such as malaria and cholera. It is also associated
with erratic rains and drought which result in poor harvest, hunger and shortage of water and food as well
as wild fires, changes in nature and economic losses.

Environmental pollution: Many of the human activities and products that make modern human life possible
and comfortable are polluting the world. Even places that are relatively untouched by 21st Century
developments experience the effects of pollution. For instance, pollution and diseases go hand in hand.
About 40% of deaths around the world can be attributed to air, water and soil pollution. Pollution is
disturbing our ecosystem and the balance of the environment. It is leading to loss of biodiversity, soil
infertility, loss of natural scenic beauty of the environment. It also to the spread of diseases and
environmental threats such as ozone layer depletion, acid rains, global warming and smog

The other environmental issue is the ozone layer depletion. The ozone is a gas layer that protects the earth
from the ultraviolet rays sent down by the sun. Increased exposure to ultraviolet rays has harmful
consequences as it causes skin cancer, increased rates of malaria and cases of cataracts. The
environment is also negatively affected by ozone depletion. The life cycle of plants change, disrupting the
food chain. Ozone layer is caused by the release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), hydro fluorocarbons
(HCFCs) and other ozone depletion substances (ODS) which were used widely as refrigerants, insulation
foams and solvents. Other chemicals that damage the ozone layer include methyl bromide (used as a
pesticide), carbon tetra chloride (fire extinguishers) halons and methyl chloroform

5. Terrorism and conflicts

Terrorism is the use of violence especially for political purposes. It is intended to intimidate or coerce of
civilian population to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or to affect the conduct of a
government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping. Terrorism affects the security, political and
economic stability of a nation. It kills a lot of innocent people.

Some notable examples of terrorist groups include

 Al-Qaeda, meaning ‘The base’: it is a global militant Sunni Islamic organization founded by
Osama Bin Laden, Abudulla Azzan and others in 1988. Techniques used by Al-Qaeda include
suicide attacks and bombings of its targets. Their goal is to eliminate western, foreign influence in
Muslim countries and the creation of a new worldwide Islamic caliphate (state). It opposes man-
made laws and wants to replace them with a strict form of Sharia law.
 All Shabaab Militant group meaning ‘The youth or youngster’: It is a jihadist terrorist group
based in Somalia.
 Book Haram meaning ‘western education is forbidden’: it officially called Jamaatu,
AhlisSunnaLidda'AwatiWal-Jihad (people committed to the prophet's teaching for propagation and
Jihad is a militant Islamic Movement based in Northeast Nigeria. It was founded by Mohammed
Yusuf in 2002 in Maiduguri in Borno state by recruiting Jihadists.
 Hama meaning ‘enthusiasm’: it is a Palestinian Islamic organization with a military wing. It was
founded in 1987 mainly to liberate Palestine, including modern day Israel from Israeli occupation
 and to establish an Islamic state in the areas that are now Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza
strip.
 Islamic state in Iraq and Syria (ISIS): the aim is to create caliphate or Islamic state across Sunni
areas. It controls and imposes Sharia law. It operates in Western Iraq and Eastern Syria

6. The problem of refugees and economic migrants

Refugees have environmental, social and economic impacts on a host country. A sudden influx of people or
the establishment of long-term camps can have a serious impact on the local ecology as well as on the
welfare of nearby communities. At refugee camps trees are cut to provide support for shelter and cooking.

7. Weapons of mass destruction

This is a nuclear, radiological, biological, chemical or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm
to a large number of humans or cause great damage to man-made structure (buildings) or natural
structures such as mountains as well as plants and animals.

8. Economic globalization and communication revolution

Globalization is the process of international integration arising from the interchange of world views,
products, ideas and other aspects of culture. Internet has reduced distance between people in the world.
As the world is becoming more intercollegiate, it facilitates multinational trade. This enhances free flow of
capital from one area to another. This facilitates socioeconomic development. It is the worldwide movement
towards economic, financial, trade and communications integration. Advances in transportation and
telecommunication infrastructure, including the rise of the telegraph and the internet are the major factors in
globalization, generating further interdependence of economic and cultural activities. The four basic
aspects of globalization include trade, capital and investment movement, migration of people and the
dissemination of knowledge. Globalization helps developing countries catch up with industrialized nations
much faster through increased employment and technological advances. However, there are fears that
developing countries' economies will be dominated by giant multinational corporations from advanced
countries. It is said that globalization would result in job losses; it weakens national sovereignty and allows
rich nations to ship domestic jobs overseas where labor is much cheaper.

Implications of global issues and challenges on development

 Population growth: it is a problem of human welfare and in developing countries it impedes
development. It makes y more difficult to provide essential social services to youthful populations
as well as provision of housing, transport, sanitation and security. Rapid population growth also
contributes to the unemployment, poverty, illiteracy, child and maternal mortality and malnutrition.
 Poverty: areas with high incidence of poverty, economic development tend to low because poor
people do not contribute as much as they could to economic development due to limited capacity
to do so.
  Epidemics: this costs a lot to raise money for medicines to deal with an epidemic instead of
focusing on other developments. People cannot go to work or businesses or cannot learn better if
they are sick due to epidemics.
 Conflicts and refugee problem: this causes loss of life, injuries, homeless and famine. It also
diverts resource away from development as the conflicting parties spend more money on weapons
than on social services. The problem of refugees has environmental, social and economic impacts
on a country such as local ecology and the welfare of nearby communities.
 Economic globalization: benefits of economic growth are unequally distributed between rich and
poor countries. Manufacturing industries in developing countries find it difficult to compete with
multinational corporations from development countries. They operate at small scale and have to
charge a higher price for their goods to survive. Yet the goods manufactured by the large
companies are often cheaper than those made within the country. Globalization has also resulted
in the problem of brain drain in most developing countries as more and more skilled human
resources migrate to the developed countries in search of better life.
 Environmental challenges: climate change, pollution, soil erosion, desertification and the loss of
species damage the quality of human life and the ability of human being to manage the
environment sustainability for future generations.

Efforts being taken to deal with global challenges and refugees

 Conflicts and refugees: to deal with conflicts countries through the regional and international
organization such as United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), African Union,
ECOWAS, SADC have made efforts towards conflict prevention, peaceful conflict resolution and
peace building in the world. There are also international campaigning groups which lobby
international organizations in an attempt to control the trade in arms. To deal with the issue of
refugees, the international community came up with the 1951Convention on the status of refugees.
The United Nations agencies, the United Nations High Commissioner for refugee are responsible
for safe guarding the rights and wellbeing of refugees.
 Diseases: a lot of effects are being taken to control harmful diseases worldwide. Scientists are
developing vaccines aimed at reducing incidence of disease such as Ebola, malaria and HIV/AIDS.